


Finding Your Way Home

by MightyWolves23



Series: A Long Distance Kind of Home [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Force Bond (Star Wars), Hurt Anakin Skywalker, Hurt/Comfort, It isnt one of my stories unless there is a crap ton of angst, Kid Fic, Leia Organa is a Skywalker, Minor Character Death, Not Really Character Death, Not really though, Protective Padmé Amidala, Scheming, Skywalker Family Feels (Star Wars), not a real force bond but more like an advanced twin bond
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 42,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26798203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MightyWolves23/pseuds/MightyWolves23
Summary: Leia knew her daddy was hurting. He tried to be happy around her but she knew he was faking it. Leia wanted him to be happy. Her mama was dead and her daddy was very unhappy.Luke knew his Mama was sad. He would do something and she would get a sad look on her face. Luke's daddy had left him. His Mama and he were all alone.Leia had Luke. Luke had Leia. Luke didn't have a daddy. Leia didn't have a mama. They started scheming to get their parents together. They will soon find out that it's much bigger than they thought.
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Series: A Long Distance Kind of Home [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954321
Comments: 81
Kudos: 224





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So... my first story in this fandom. Hope it goes okay. The main ship will be Anidala with background Rexsoka and Obitine. 
> 
> Leia and Luke have an advanced twin bond. It's not really a force bond because this is a modern all human on earth AU. 
> 
> Also, I apologize if this story seems a little off. I don't really spend time around kids so I don't know exactly how advanced four-year-olds are. If they seem off just assume they are smarter than your average four-year-old. I'm sorry before hand. I tried.

“Luke! Luke come back here!” Padme chased after the small blonde boy with a bit of exasperation in her tone. 

The little tow-headed boy giggled as he ran through the house. “Never Mama. I’m going to be free to fly a plane just like Daddy!” 

Padme’s heart clenched at the words the four-year-old spoke. She came to a stop and leaned against the wall. Pain taking over her features. 

They had planned on a life together. They were going to run away with their twins. Away from his disapproving friends and her straight-laced family. They were going to live in Alaska and have a cabin in the wild and live happily with their babies. 

That all was taken from her. 

She had some complications with the birth and lost her daughter. When Anakin found out he left her. According to her parents anyway. They said the grief was too much and he just took off from the hospital. Never to be seen again. Padme was left alone with Luke. Her precious little boy would never know his twin sister and would never know his father. 

“Mama?” Little hands wrapped around her knees. “You okay?” 

Padme scooped up the boy. “I’m alright. Now, about that bath…” 

Padme hauled the squirming child to the bathtub. 

“No! No bath!” 

“Luke Naberrie, you will settle down this instant!” Padme felt bad for yelling a split second after the words left her lips. 

Luke’s blue eyes filled with tears. Padme rarely raised her voice. When she did, it was only when she was extremely stressed out. 

“Luke, I’m sorry.” Padme sighed in regret. She pulled her child close and buried her nose in his blonde hair. A tear leaked from her eye and fell on Luke’s head. 

“Mama?” Luke’s voice was filled with worry. 

“I’m okay, Sweetheart. I’m okay.” Padme dearly wished that the lie she told would be true. She lowered Luke into the cooling bathwater and began scrubbing him clean. 

****

Anakin wrestled with the pain in his heart. His Angel, his Padme, was dead alongside his son. He was reminded of the fact every day when he looked at his daughter. Leia was all he had left. 

Leia had her mother’s everything. From her appearance down to her nature. She was everything like his lost love. Sure she had parts of him in her, like her stubbornness and the way she fought others on certain things. Like eating ‘yucky’ food for instance. 

Most of the time she was a calm and good child. Other times, she was a hellcat when she didn’t get what she wanted. 

Anakin finally understood the saying that your kids will put you through worse than what you did to your parents. Anakin was being run ragged. 

Sure he had his mother and stepfather and stepbrother. They helped out some. Especially around Leia’s birthday. That was always a hard time for Anakin. 

“Daddy?” Little hands clutched onto his arm. Curious fingers traced his prosthetic. 

“Hey, Sweetheart.” Anakin picked up the dark-haired four-year-old and set her on his lap. “What’s wrong?” He noticed her worried look. 

“Are you sad?” Familiar brown eyes stared into his. 

“I’m okay. Now that you’re here.” Anakin hugged her close. 

“Luke’s Mama is sad,” Leia informed him. 

“I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe he should give her some awesome hugs. Like you do. I know I always feel better after a hug.” 

Anakin knew he shouldn’t do this. Give in to her imaginary friend. He had been told countless times by her daycare teachers that he shouldn’t encourage it. Anakin was never good at following orders from others. 

Leia had Luke since she could talk. Maybe even before. Anakin remembered some times when Leia was an infant, she would babble to seemingly no one. She would be semi alone in her crib and Anakin would hear her over the baby monitor. 

Leia lit up. “I will tell him. Thanks, Daddy.” Leia climbed down from his lap with a little assistance. She hurried off to her room. 

Anakin focused back on the project he was working on. 

He used to fly planes. He was a good pilot. Excellent in fact. The accident that took his hand and scarred his face stopped him from ever flying a plane again. 

Now, he was a mechanic for computers and other devices. He owned his own business that fixed technology and bought old models of computers and phones. 

Right now he was working on a monitor and brain system. It was a challenge if only because it was so ancient that it was kind of fascinating to see how they made it work. The monitor alone took up about half of the kitchen table. 

Anakin pushed aside all thoughts of Padme and the son he will never meet in this life. He had Leia. That was all he needed. 

The lie invaded his brain making him feel guilt and deep heartache. 

*****

“Luke?” Leia whispered. She was sitting on her floor in her toy corner. It was filled with all her stuffies. Larry the giraffe and Mrs. Snuffles the elephant stared back at her. 

_ “Leia?” _ A voice responded. 

Leia grinned and bounced happily. Luke talked back to her! 

As far back as she could remember Leia had always had Luke. They could talk to each other and Leia knew when Luke was upset. Luke also knew when she was upset. 

Leia had felt Luke’s worry and sadness tonight. She had gone to ask her Daddy for advice. 

Her Daddy was the best person ever. He always made time for her and hugged her when she felt sad. He gave her toys and things on her birthday and even though she knew it was hard for him, he was always cheerful and happy. 

Leia knew differently. Her Daddy was very sad. Leia caught him one night. It was her fourth birthday. He was sitting in the kitchen with Uncle Obi. He was crying and Leia wanted to go to him so badly, but she knew that he would force himself to be happy for her and she just couldn’t see it. 

“What’s wrong?” Leia kept her voice quiet. Daddy would hear her if she didn’t. 

_ “Mama is sad.”  _ Luke’s voice grew soft for a moment.  _ “She yelled at me and then she cried after she said sorry.”  _

“Daddy says that you should give her a hug. He said he always feels better when I do.” Leia felt Luke didn’t want to ask her a question. “What is it, Luke?” 

_ “What’s it like having a Daddy?”  _

“It’s alright. He takes me to the park and he helps me with things like tying my shoes and cleaning my room. He takes me for ice cream after daycare sometimes.” Leia paused. “Luke? What’s it like having a Mama?” 

“ _ She bakes with me and she helps me take a bath. We watch TV together and she holds me when I have a bad day. She sings amazing songs and we are silly sometimes.” _ Luke’s voice was really hard to hear.  _ “I really wish I had a Daddy.” _

“I really wish I had a Mama.” Leia felt tears welling up. 

_ “Maybe we should get ours together. My Mama won’t be so sad anymore and your Daddy won’t be either. Where do you live?” _ Luke sounded eager. 

“Arizona.” Leia was hopeful until she felt Luke’s despair. “What’s wrong?” 

_ “My Mama and I live in North Carolina.”  _ Luke sounded and felt so upset. 

Leia wasn’t ready to give up though. “We have to do something.” She spoke and felt so strongly about it that she could sense Luke’s hope coming back. 

“Leia.” Leia’s Daddy knocked on the door. “It’s time for bed. Tomorrow you have daycare and Grandma is going to be picking you up.” 

“Okay. Just a second. Bye Luke. I have to go.” Leia spoke quietly when she talked to Luke. 

_ “Good night Leia.”  _

Leia stood up and made her way to her bed. She crawled underneath the covers and gave a tired grin to her Dad. “Night Daddy.” 

“Good night Sweetheart.” 

Leia’s Daddy was at the door. 

“Daddy?” Leia couldn’t help but ask this question. Maybe North Carolina was close and she and her Daddy could visit it. 

“Yes, Leia?” 

“Where is North Carolina?” Leia didn’t miss the flash of pain that crossed her Daddy’s face. 

“It’s on the other side of the country.” Her daddy replied. 

“Can we visit it?” Leia knew she was pushing it but she had to be sure. 

“Not this year, Sweetheart. Now, I want you to get some sleep.” Her daddy flipped off the light. 

Leia’s pink flower night light lit up the room softly. 

“I love you, Daddy.” Leia murmured sleepily. She yawned and snuggled down in her bed. 

There was a long pause before he replied. “I love you, too, Little Angel.” 

Leia closed her eyes and slipped off to sleep. She and Luke had to do something. 

***

Padme sighed as she dropped onto her couch. Luke was finally asleep. 

After his bath, Luke had spent some time in his room before running downstairs and declared tonight was a movie night. They put on Finding Dory and Luke was cuddled up to her side the whole time until he fell asleep. 

He was very insistent on cuddling her. He wouldn’t let her get up. He pressed himself under her arm and laid his head on her torso. 

It brought back memories of another older blonde who, after knowing about her bad day, would insist on sitting on the couch and cuddling until she was better. Mandatory Feel Better Time is what he called it. 

Padme’s phone chimed its little soft ping that let her know she had a text message. She stared at her phone sitting on the coffee table. When it chirped again, she sighed and picked it up. 

Padme read the message and really couldn’t muster a smile no matter how hard she tried. It was Rush Clovis. The man her parents were pressuring her to date and marry. 

Rush was a rich banker. Perfect for a Naberrie. Even a disgraced one. 

Her parents’ theory was that Luke was growing older and needed a ‘strong male influence’. They thought that it was fine that Padme raised him on her own for a few years. After all, he was a baby. Now that he was four, her parents were cracking down on her to marry. 

They never approved of Anakin. A once pilot turned mechanic. 

Padme pushed aside the thoughts and set aside her phone. Her response was not needed now. What she needed was a glass of wine and a bath. Preferably right away. 

Padme reclined in the bathtub and let the warm water soothe away her stress as much as she could. 

She needed a break from everything but Luke. Maybe she and he could disappear for a while. They could go on vacation. Maybe Hawaii. The beach sounded great right about now. The clear blue water, tropical drinks, warm white sand. 

Padme sighed. It seemed everything she thought of brought her around to Anakin. 

Padme sat up sharply. Water splashed over the edge of the tub in little waves. 

“No more.” She spoke firmly. 

It was time to put Anakin Skywalker behind her. She would always love him but he left her when she needed him the most. He abandoned her and Luke. Maybe her parents were right. It was time to move on and find someone to settle down with. 

Rush wasn’t that bad. Sure he was a little bit entitled and snooty but he was a good guy underneath. He gave to charities. That had to count for something, right? 

So far he knew about Luke but had never met him. It was time for them to meet. She decided. 

Padme picked up her phone and texted out a quick message. She hesitated a half minute before hitting send with her thumb. Her reply came three minutes later. 

The date was set. 

****

TWO DAYS LATER...

“Luke? Come out here, now.”

Luke’s doorknob rattled and his door shook in its frame. It took a bit but Luke had managed to push his toy box in front of the door. 

He hated doing this to his mom but he refused to be nice to the man that was not his daddy. Leia’s daddy was the only other exception. 

Luke hunkered down and held his breath. “Leia?” He cried out as quietly as he dared. “Leia!” He poured every ounce of what he was feeling into reaching her. 

_ “Luke? What’s wrong? _ ” 

Luke felt relief when he heard Leia’s worried voice. 

Tears stung his eyes. “Mama has a man over. He’s not my daddy. He isn’t yours either.” 

_ “Oh, Luke. You have to get him away.”  _

“I tried. Mama got mad at me. I don’t like it when she is mad at me.” Luke whispered. 

“Luke, sweetheart. Please open the door.” 

Luke winced. His mother sounded tired and upset. 

“I gotta go, Leia. Can we talk later?” 

_ “Sure Luke. I’ll be waiting.”  _

Luke took a deep breath and shoved his toy box away from his door. The door immediately opened. 

“Luke Naberrie you better have a good explanation for…” 

Luke’s mother’s voice trailed off as she took in the room. His toy box was barely past the door and Luke stood in the middle of the room with red-rimmed eyes and tears running down his chubby cheeks. 

Luke swiped at his face. He rubbed his sleeve across his nose. 

“Oh, Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” 

Luke choked on a sob. “I don’t like him. I want my real daddy. Where is he, Mama? Why isn’t he here?” 

Luke was soon enveloped in his mother’s warm spicy cinnamon smelling embrace. She sat on the floor of his room in her fancy dress. Her hand ran through his hair comfortingly. She hummed softly. “Oh, Luke. I’m so sorry, but your daddy is not here. I don’t even know where he is.” 

Luke sobbed. He felt Leia’s worry and concern. He sent her the feelings of later. Later he would get comfort from his best friend in the whole world. Right now, he needed his mama. 

“Why did he leave us, Mommy?” Luke cried. “Doesn’t he love me? Didn’t he want me?” 

Luke felt wetness on his shoulder. His strong, kind, and beautiful mother was crying!

“Oh my baby, he loved you very much. He did want you, he was so excited looking forward to your birth. It’s all my fault. Maybe if I was stronger he wouldn’t have left.” 

Luke paid half attention to his mother’s ramblings. He knew it was important but he was hurt and missing his daddy and his mama was crying. 

“Mama.” Luke sniffed deeply and cupped his mother’s face with his smallish fingers. “It’s okay. You have me. I won’t leave you. I promise Mama.” 

To Luke’s horror, his mother seemed to cry harder for a second before wiping her face with her hands. “Thank you, baby.” She kissed his head and sighed. “This doesn’t excuse your actions tonight. I raised you better than the show you put on at the restaurant. Please, just give him a chance. Just one chance.” 

Luke bit his lip and nodded. “Okay, Mama. One chance.” 

“That’s all I ask, sweetheart.” Luke’s mama stood up in her fancy shoes. She wobbled a bit. Luke reached out a hand and tried to steady her. “Thank you, Sweetheart.” She paused for a moment. “I think three days helping me with the dishes after dinner is perfect, don’t you?” 

“Yes, Mama.” Luke nodded his head sadly. 

Luke was soon changed into his pajamas and tucked under the dark outer space covers. His moon-shaped night light was glowing. 

Luke’s mom eyed the toy box. “Did you move that all by yourself?” 

Luke only shook his head in the affirmative. 

“You are strong.” Luke’s mom pushed the box back against the wall. “Get some sleep, Luke. Good night. I love you so much.” 

Luke rolled over in his bed so his back was to the wall. “I love you too Mama.” 

Luke’s mother shut his door and flipped out his light.

He hugged his stuffed giraffe named Lucy to his chest. Leia had one a little bit like it. Her stuffie was named Larry. He named his giraffe Lucy. Larry and Lucy were best friends like Luke and Leia were. One day they would meet. Luke swore they would. They were best friends. They always found each other, didn’t they? 

****

Leia was waiting for the right moment. She knew her daddy always went to bed at eleven at night. It was kind of late for her to stay up but this was an emergency. 

Leia had been eating dinner with her daddy and Uncle Obi when she felt Luke’s distress. Something bad had happened, like crying your eyes out bad. 

Leia had felt tears well up at her best friend’s hurt. He was hurting and she wasn’t there. Leia eyed her daddy and his friend as they spoke about something grown-up. 

“Luke?” She whispered. 

Leia felt Luke’s brush off and him telling her they would talk later. 

Leia quietly ate her food. She didn’t feel like eating but she needed to otherwise her daddy would worry and come check on her later. 

Leia swallowed the last bite of her macaroni and cheese. “Daddy? I’m done.” 

Leia’s daddy nodded at her. “Okay, Leia. Go put your plate in the sink and then we can watch a movie tonight. How does the movie Robots sound?” 

Leia rolled her eyes. “You just like that show because it has robots in it.” 

“Of course I do. It’s a great movie.” Leia’s daddy sounded like Leia had just insulted grandma or someone. 

Leia huffed. She placed her hands on her hips. “I am not watching it, Daddy. You have seen it a million times already. We are watching Beauty and the Beast.” 

To Leia’s surprise, her daddy got all teary-eyed. “Okay, Little Angel. We can watch Beauty and the Beast.” 

Leia smiled happily at him. “Thank you, Daddy.” Leia gave him a hug and put her plate in the sink. 

“Anakin? Are you okay?” Uncle Obi’s voice caused Leia to turn around. 

Her daddy sat with his head in his hands. “I’m fine.” 

“Don’t pull that bs on me. I’ve known you for years. Is it… her?” Uncle Obi shot a look at Leia. “Leia, would you mind going and getting the couch ready? I need to talk to your father.” 

Leia nodded and ran for the living room. She hunkered down around the corner by the closest entrance to the kitchen. 

“Anakin, you can’t keep doing this. It’s been four years. How long are you going to grieve?” Uncle Obi’s voice was soft but Leia still heard him. 

“She’s dead, Obi. The mother to that little girl out there and my…” Here her daddy’s voice broke. “I’ll never see them again. Not in this lifetime. I loved them with everything I had. We were planning a life together. We were going to run away and get married and live in a cabin in Alaska. If only that stupid car wreck…” Her daddy’s voice broke off into sobs. “Have you ever loved someone so much that when they are sad, you are sad? That when they leave it’s all you can do from not following after.” 

“Anakin! Surely you don’t mean…” Uncle Obi’s voice sounded full of horror. 

“Leia is the only thing keeping me going, Obi. She’s all I have left and sometimes it just hurts. She’s so much like her mother. She’s the last piece I have of her. I loved them so much. It just hurts.” 

Uncle Obi was quiet for a while as her daddy tried to calm down. “You know I do. She has left me too. I don’t know when…” 

“Satine is still alive!” Leia’s daddy yelled out in anger. 

Leia jumped back in fear. 

“You are just too much of a coward to fight for her! Padme is gone! She’s never coming back!” 

There was silence for a few minutes. 

“Get out.” 

“Anakin?” 

“I said out! Not right now Obi. Just… not right now.” 

Leia left her hiding place and quickly dragged the blankets (that were kept under the coffee table for movie night) out. 

“Daddy!” Leia called. “It’s ready!” 

Leia came into the kitchen to see the back door swing shut. 

After the movie, Leia's daddy tucked her in and went back out to the living room. Leia heard him working and saying stuff quietly as things made clanking noises. 

It was now really late. Leia heard footsteps outside her door. She quickly rolled on her side and closed her eyes. 

Her door creaked open and there was quiet for a minute. Her daddy then laid a hand on her head. He brushed her hair back and sighed. 

"Good night, my Little Angel. I love you until the moon falls from the sky." 

He kissed her head and quietly left the room. 

Leia held still until she heard his door shut and his bed creak. The little four-year-old got out of bed and sat down amongst her stuffies. After assuring Larry and Mrs. Snuffles that she was sorry for disturbing their sleep and that she would be as fast as a mouse, she focused on Luke. 

“Luke?” Leia reached out. She sent to him her worry and pain at what she learned tonight. 

_ “Leia? What are you still doing up? It’s past bedtime.”  _

Luke’s voice was sleepy. 

“What happened tonight? I felt you get all sad. And then you have to tell me about this man your Mama was with.” 

_ “Only if you share what happened too. Just cause I was sleeping doesn’t mean I don’t know about your sadness. _ ” 

“Deal.” Leia got herself more comfortable. Luke told her about the time with his mom. 

_ “...And she cried worse. I don’t know what I did wrong.”  _

“I don’t either. I’m sorry that your daddy left Luke.” Leia felt tears well up as she thought about her mama. 

_ “What did you do tonight? _ ” 

Luke’s question was not meant to hurt but Leia felt sobs well up into her chest. She bit them back because her crying will send her daddy to her for sure. 

“M-my Mama is dead.” Leia felt a tear leak down her cheek. “Daddy was talking to Uncle Obi and I heard him. He was so sad and I wanted to go to him really really bad but I didn’t.” 

_ “Why didn’t you?”  _

“Because he would try and hide it. He would try to be happy if I was there and I don’t want him to do that.” Leia sighed. “What are we going to do to get my daddy and your mama together? Wait, what happened with that man tonight?” 

Leia felt Luke’s humor at what happened. 

_ “We went to this food place. It was really nice with white things on the tables and there was a fire in jars in the middle of the table. Mama and I went with Mr. Clovis. He told me to call him that. It was so boring. There were no color pages for me to color and there was no kid area. I was the only kid there. Everyone was looking at me.”  _

“What did you do Luke?” Leia whispered. She knew very well her best friend’s mischief. 

_ “I blew out the fire and knocked Mr. Clovis’ drink over. When the food came I made a mess and got the white thing all dirty. We went home after I cried ‘cause I spilled my drink all over the table.”  _

“Great job Luke.” Leia had to hide her giggles. That was something she would have done. 

Luke got quiet.  _ “Mama got upset with me. I have to help her with the dishes now.”  _

“Was it worth it?” Leia smirked as she felt Luke’s laughter. 

_ “Yes. It was.” _

“Good.” Leia was nearly asleep on her floor. “Luke? What are we going to do? I really want to meet you. Your Mama sounds pretty. I want a mama like her.” 

Luke’s voice sounded sleepy as he responded. He yawned halfway through his sentence.  _ “Your daddy sounds cool. I really like him.”  _

Leia laid down on her carpet with Larry and Mrs. Snuffles in her arms. “We have to meet Luke.” 

_ “I know. We will think of something.” _

Both kids fell asleep after that. One tucked safely in his bed while the other slept on the floor of her room with only her stuffed animals for comfort. 

Soon, they would meet. They had to. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! So excited! So much activity that I almost never get! 
> 
> There is a part in this chapter where a certain little girl does something very mean to a mean adult. 
> 
> I in no way condone this. In fact I highly discourage anyone from doing this. 
> 
> I actually got the idea from my fifth grade teacher way back when. She told us, her students, she did this to her brother's girlfriend because she didn't like her. 
> 
> You will understand when you read it. 
> 
> I don't own Star Wars and all that jazz. 
> 
> This is cross posted on Ff.net too.

Padme was done. Absolutely done with everything. Her job, her parents, and even Rush. 

It had been three weeks since that disastrous night at Rydell’s. Luke wanted to make it up to Rush for spoiling their night. Rush had offered for a guys afternoon. Padme had agreed eagerly. Maybe they would click? 

It was a failure. Epicly. Rush had taken Luke to a suit shop. Apparently, Rush needed a new one and thought that taking a four-year-old child into a shop that was filled with expensive silk suits for two to three hours would be a good idea. 

Anakin would have never made that mistake. 

She had tried. She really did try to forget Anakin and move on. It was impossible. Even though he broke her heart and left her and their son in their time of need, she still loved him with everything in her. He was her forever. There was no replacing him. 

Not even with fancy know it all bankers who didn’t have a decent child-friendly streak in them. 

Padme slammed the kitchen cabinet shut with a bang. She placed her forehead on the cool wood and breathed deeply. 

She needed a vacation. Desperately. They took time to plan though. 

Padme gave herself three days. Three days to plan a trip with just her and her son. Somewhere where certain bankers would never be seen. Hawaii was looking better and better despite the memories that sand brought up. 

Little feet came flying into the kitchen. “Mama?” Luke called out. “I was just looking at something and I found out about this place in Arizona. It has a river at the bottom of a huge crack in the dirt.” 

Padme gave a fond smile. “The Grand Canyon?” 

“Yeah. That. I really want to see it. Can we please go?” Luke gave her puppy eyes.

Padme thought about it for a moment. She gave a bright smile and muttered a bad word under her breath starting with the letter F followed by the word it. 

“Alright. Let’s go. Right now. I’ll help you pack. We are leaving in three hours.” Padme didn’t notice how her son was way too excited to be going to see a giant crack in the ground. 

“Come on Luke. We have to pack.” Padme headed for the stairs, her son was almost vibrating in excitement the whole way. 

“We’re coming, Leia,” Luke whispered with a bright grin on his face. “We’ll be there soon.” 

*****

_ “We’re coming, Leia. We’ll be there soon.” _

Leia felt the echoes of Luke’s happiness and promised words. Leia nearly bounced in her seat. Luke was coming to Arizona. She was going to meet him at last!

“Leia, what’s wrong? Do you have to go potty?” 

Leia wrinkled her nose at her teacher. Ms. Watson was mean and spoke to her like she was a baby. She was not a baby. Ms. Watson had long blonde hair that was always tied in a ponytail. 

“No, Ms. Watson. I’m really happy.” Leia let loose a giggle. 

“Why are you so happy, Kiddo?” 

“Because Luke is coming here to see me! He’s bringing his Mama.” Leia’s face fell at Ms. Watson’s next words. 

“Kiddo, Luke is not real. He is just made up.” 

“He is too!” Leia glared hotly at her teacher. “He’s real and he’s bringing his Mama so she can meet my Daddy. They are going to be mine and Luke’s mama and daddy. My daddy will never go for  _ you _ .” 

“Leia Skywalker, go to the time out chair!” Ms. Watson’s face was an ugly red color. 

Leia glared at mean Ms. Watson before heading to the chair in the corner. She sank in the chair and pouted. 

Ms. Watson always made icky faces at her daddy and was nice to him. Too nice. It reminded her of the time Leia got into the pancake syrup and ate a whole bunch of it. It made her tummy hurt and her teeth hurt. 

She glared with all the hatred a four-year-old could muster before her mind lit on an idea. She smirked darkly. Ms. Watson will never bother her daddy again after this. 

After five minutes had passed, Ms. Watson seemed to have forgotten that Leia was in time out. She was sitting on the couch talking on the phone with someone loudly. 

Leia snuck off the chair and grabbed a pair of scissors that are ‘only supposed to be used on paper. Not anything else.’ 

Leia got on her knees and scooted behind the couch. She eyed her target. The shimmering blonde ponytail of her teacher swayed in front of her. 

Ms. Watson was distracted and was laughing on the phone. 

Leia stood up and reached as high as she could. It was almost close to the purple band holding Ms. Watson’s hair. Leia closed her eyes and closed the scissors with a quiet snip. 

There was silence for a half-second before the screaming started. 

****

Anakin desperately tried to hold back laughter. 

He had gotten a call from Sienna Watson about his daughter… Oh, excuse him… his demon spawn. 

It was times like these that Anakin knew for sure that Leia was his. 

Apparently, Leia had been talking about Luke and when Ms. Watson tried to rid her of her delusion, Leia had said something rude and was sent to time out. But that was not the end. Oh no. His daughter had to get even by cutting off Ms. Watson’s hair. 

What’s that saying… she doesn’t get mad, she gets even? 

Anakin tried to hide his amusement. He adopted a stern look. “Leia. Why did you cut off Ms. Watson’s hair?” 

Anakin pulled into the parking lot of their apartment building to talk to his daughter about her ‘evil ways’. 

“She was being mean!” Leia exploded. “She’s always nice to you but hates me! She tells me that Luke isn’t real. That he’s made up. I know he’s real. He and his mama are coming here. I get to meet Luke and Ms. Watson was mean about it.” 

Anakin nodded and tried to channel Obi Kenobi. His best friend. “I am happy that you are going to have fun with Luke, but Leia, cutting an adult’s hair, cutting anyone’s hair without permission is bad.” 

Leia’s heartbreaking familiar brown eyes filled with tears. “But, she was mean,” Leia spoke like that explained it all. 

Anakin sighed. “Leia, it’s still bad. You are going to have to have a punishment. I think a week of staying at Grandma’s during the day while I am at work and you helping her in the yard will work.” 

Leia gasped. “No! You’ll ruin everything! I can’t be at Grandma’s! I’ll never meet Luke if you do that!” Leia’s yelling devolved into fierce cries. “No! I have to meet Luke! No!” 

Anakin was shocked. “Leia?” 

“No!” Leia screamed. 

“Leia Amidala Skywalker,” Anakin warned. “Stop this right now.” 

“No!” 

Leia was getting hysterical. 

Anakin quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car. He opened the back door and pulled his daughter into his arms. “Leia. Leia, shhh. It’s okay Little Angel, just breathe. Okay? Just breathe.” 

Anakin began breathing slowly and deeply. Leia’s cries soon quieted. She hiccuped and rubbed her face into her Daddy’s chest. 

“Please, Daddy. I have to meet Luke. It’s my only chance. He lives in North Carolina. We planned this for weeks. Daddy, please, don’t make me miss meeting Luke.” 

Anakin was confused. “Haven’t you already met Luke?” 

“No, Daddy.” Leia rolled her red-rimmed eyes. “Luke lives with only his mama in North Carolina,” Leia spoke to him in a tone similar to like she had already said it a thousand times. “Luke and I planned for his mama and him to come here. So you can meet his mama and be happy. Me and Luke will be brothers. Like you and Uncle Obi. ‘Cept we will live together. Daddy? Why don’t you and Uncle Obi live together? Aren’t you brothers?” 

Anakin could only focus on so much. The barrage his daughter just threw at him made him think for a moment. “Why is Luke bringing his mama here?” 

Leia sighed in exasperation. “I already told you, Daddy.” 

“Tell me again, Little Angel?” Anakin gave her his best charming smile. 

“He’s bringing her here for _ you _ ,” Leia stressed on the word you. Leia must have seen that he still wasn’t getting it. She sighed again and raised her eyes skyward. “Luke’s daddy left him. He only has a mama. My mama is gone and I only have you. Luke and I decided to meet so his mama and my daddy would meet. That way all of us can be happy.” 

Anakin’s heart ached at Leia’s logic. Maybe it was time to disillusion his daughter to Luke. 

“Leia, about Luke…” Anakin trailed off at the look he was getting. 

Leia raised hopeful brown eyes to him. 

Anakin was taken back to a time when another pair of brown eyes looked at him the same way. 

***

_ “Promise me Ani. If something should happen to me that you will never break our kids’ hearts on purpose. I know we are far from perfect and there will be times we mess up but promise me that it will never happen.”  _

_ Brown eyes pleaded with him. Anakin sighed. “I promise Angel.” _

*****

“Daddy?” 

The same shade of brown eyes stared back at him. 

Anakin couldn’t do it. He couldn’t break his daughter’s heart by telling her that her imaginary friend wasn’t real. Instead, he did something that was different. He encouraged it. 

“Leia, can you tell me more about Luke?”

Leia lit up and began telling him all about her ‘best friend in the whole world’. 

****

Leia was so happy she felt like jumping up and down. Everything was working perfectly! Luke was coming over to Arizona and her daddy was happy to meet them! He said Luke sounded like a cool kid. He really wanted to meet Luke too. 

Leia couldn’t wait to tell him. 

As soon as they entered their home, Leia ran for her room. 

“Leia? Where are you going?” Her daddy called after her. 

“To talk to Luke! I gotta tell him stuff!” 

Leia ran into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. She quickly plopped on the floor by Larry and Mrs. Snuffles. After greeting them and giving them a fast story about her day, Leia called out to Luke. 

“Luke? I gotta talk to you. If you can’t talk back that’s okay. I just wanna tell you something. I told Daddy all about you and he said he really wants to meet you and that you sound like a cool kid.” 

Luke sent a burst of excitement and joy. 

Leia felt tears spring up at how happy Luke was. “Where are you? How long until you get here?” 

Leia waited for an answer. It took a long time before she got a faint picture of a car window and another of a huge crack in the dirt with a river at the bottom. 

“So you are coming here in your car and what was the other one?” 

Leia felt Luke’s sleepy ‘I’m sorry’. 

“That’s okay. We will talk later.” Leia grinned and said one last thing. “I can’t wait to meet you, Luke.” 

She felt Luke’s happiness one last time before he faded like he was sleeping. 

Leia couldn’t wait until Luke got here. 

****

Anakin was cooking dinner when Leia came out of her room from ‘talking’ to Luke. 

It wasn’t anything special. Just some boxed macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. He wasn’t the best cook. That was always Padme. 

“Daddy?” Leia sat down at the small table in their apartment. She propped her elbows on the table with her face in her palms. 

“Yes, Leia?” Anakin focused on putting three hot dogs in the boiling water on the stove. 

“Where in Arizona is a huge crack in the dirt with water at the bottom?” 

Anakin spared a glance at his daughter. She looked worried. Her brow was furrowed and she was slightly glaring as she tried to figure out the answer.

“The Grand Canyon.” Anakin smiled at Leia’s excitement. 

“I want to go see it,” Leia announced. 

“Leia, it’s about a two-hour drive away. Besides, when did you get so interested in the earth?” Anakin quickly stirred the boiling noodles on the stovetop. 

“Please Daddy? We have to see it. I want to see it.” Leia begged. 

Anakin thought about his next day off. It was on Saturday. That was five days from now. He didn’t have anything planned on that day except a day sleeping in and maybe working on some extra projects he brought home. 

“We’ll see, Leia.” Anakin drained the noodles as the timer went off. “Maybe Uncle Obi can come with us.” 

Leia began to shake her head before pausing. “I’ll have to ask Luke. What’s for dinner, Daddy?” 

******

Padme looked in the rearview mirror at her son. He was sleeping. He had a huge smile on his face. 

She knew this was a good idea. As soon as they were packed and Padme had let her second in command at her office know that she would be gone for two weeks, Padme had hit the road with Luke. 

For the first hour, they sang kids’ songs and laughed as they got more and more involved. Soon, Luke had fallen silent. Padme had looked back to see him staring out the window. Another big grin lit up his cute little face and then he fell asleep in his car seat. 

It was now Hour Three of driving and they were just now hitting the Tennessee/North Carolina border. 

“Luke? Luke?” Padme pulled onto an exit ramp and into a gas station. She opened the back door to her little car. “Luke?” 

Luke hummed and sleepily opened his eyes. “Are we in Arizona, Mama?” He sat up eagerly. He looked around, out the windows. 

Padme gave a small laugh. “No, Luke. We’ll be there in five days. Right now we are in Tennessee.” 

Luke’s nose scrunched up. “Tennessee?” 

Padme got him unbuckled and out of the car. 

“What are we doing here?” Luke held onto her hand as she led him into the gas station. 

“Well, we need food and a bathroom break. Maybe some drinks and we need some gas for the car.” Padme stopped outside the bathroom door. 

After doing their business and washing their hands, mother and son headed out into the store area of the station. They bought some snacks and Luke got a Gatorade all to himself. 

They headed back to the car and Padme got Luke buckled back into his seat. “Mama? We’ll be at the huge crack on what day?” 

Padme smiled at her son’s inability to say the right name for the place they were going. “Well, today is Monday so we’ll get there on Saturday.” 

Luke’s eyes got wide. “That long? We are going to be in the car the whole way?” 

“We’ll stop for the night at hotels and I’m sure we will take lots of breaks. There are things we can see on the way like the children’s museum in Little Rock, Arkansas and we can see the Mississippi River which is the longest and widest river in the USA.” Padme talked while she made sure Luke was comfortable. 

“But I want to be in Arizona now,” Luke whined. 

Padme frowned. “Why do you want to be there so bad?” 

Luke looked down. “I just want to see the huge crack.” 

Padme let the lie her son told, go. He obviously was distressed about something. “We’ll get there soon enough, Luke.” 

The gas pump let out the noise to tell her her tank was full. Padme put the nozzle back and tightened the gas tank cap. She climbed into her car and headed back out on the road. 

It was nearing Luke’s nap time so she put on some classical music and headed towards the sun shining in the west. 

***

ONE DAY LATER…

Leia frowned at her hands. They were covered in dirt. 

Leia hated being messy. Sure there were sometimes she couldn’t avoid it. Like now, for her so-called punishment for cutting Ms. Watson’s hair. 

Grandma Shimi was acting funny. When Daddy told her what happened she laughed for a few minutes and then she said that it was payback. 

Daddy had whined (actually whined! Like Leia used to do when she was a baby) and said the funniest thing ever. He said he was sorry and that he would do anything for Grandma to watch her until he found another daycare. 

Grandma got a weird look on her face and said to her daddy, “Don’t worry Ani. There are still the teenage years.” 

Daddy looked like Leia does when she sees a spider. He then quickly left and Grandma hasn’t stopped laughing since. She would look over at Leia and laugh quietly. 

Leia was getting a little sick of it. Laughing at someone was mean and Grandma should know better! 

Right on time, Grandma let out a little chuckle. 

Leia slammed her hands on her hips and glared at her Grandma. “You’re being mean.” She announced. “Laughing at daddy is mean and you’re a grown-up. Shouldn’t you know better than to laugh at someone? Honestly.” Leia threw her hands up like Uncle Obi did when Daddy did something like this. She also said the word he used too. Uncle Obi was cool. 

Grandma laughed even harder. 

Leia scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. “Now you are laughing at me.” Leia pouted. 

“I’m not laughing at you, sweetie. You just reminded me of your mother when you did that.” Grandma stood up and tugged off her gloves. “Why don’t we go get some lemonade to cool off? I could use something to drink in this hot sun.” 

“Grandma?” Leia followed behind the grown-up. “C-can you tell me about my mama? I don’t want to ask Daddy because he gets all sad.” 

“What do you want to know?” Grandma Shimi poured them both a cup of lemonade from the pretty pitcher with the pink flowers on it that Leia got her one year. 

“Was she like me?” Leia had a dozen questions about her Mama. Luke was coming with  _ his  _ mama but Leia wanted to know  _ her _ mama. 

“She was a lot like you.” Grandma Shimi led the way to the porch with their lemonade. Grandma sat down on the front swing. 

Leia crawled up next to her. She held her lemonade in both hands as her Grandma talked. 

“She had dark brown hair and brown eyes. She could calm my Ani down from the anger that he had. She had the nicest attitude and loved you both very much.” Grandma sighed as she stared out at her yard. 

“What happened to her? I know she’s gone like Goldie, my fish. Daddy had to flush Goldie down the toilet and he told me that she was gone up in the sky.” Leia waited to see what Grandma would tell her. 

Grandma’s face got so sad that Leia leaned into her and gave her a hug. “Daddy says that he feels better when I give him a hug when he’s sad. You looked sad so I gave you a hug.” 

“Thank you, sweetie. Why don’t we get back to work? These plants aren’t going to weed themselves.” Grandma stood up and put back on her gloves. 

Leia stared at her Grandma. She shook her head. Of course, plants can’t weed themselves. Grown-ups were so weird. 

“Grandma?” Leia had her hands deep in the sandy dirt. 

“What is it, sweetie?” Grandma looked over at Leia. 

Leia frowned. “D…” Leia took a deep breath. Tears stung her eyes at her next question. “Do you think my mama would like me? I try to do my best at things and I try to make daddy happy. He’s so sad and sometimes he cries and I want to go to him but he always is happy around me even though I know he is faking it.” 

Grandma sighed and laid a hand on Leia’s shoulder. “I think… I think she would be very proud of you, Leia.” 

Leia nodded and went back to ‘working’ in the yard. 

***

ONE DAY LATER… 

Luke was so bored. It had been two days since they left. 

About an hour ago they crossed a giant river. It was so big, Luke was amazed. It looked deep and muddy. Luke got a glance out the window. 

They had passed through a huge city. Mama was sad they couldn’t stop. She kept talking about the ‘birthplace of rock n roll’. Whatever that was. Wasn’t rock and roll something you did on the floor? 

Rocking was what his mama did when he was upset and rolling? Luke loved to roll on the floor while his mama chased him around and tickled his sides until he was crying because he couldn’t breathe. 

Why those actions had a birthplace was weird to him. 

Luke sighed and laid his head on the edge of his car seat. 

Leia had been quiet lately.

Luke couldn’t wait to meet Leia’s daddy and Leia. 

He wondered what having a daddy was like. Would he be just like his Mama? Was having a daddy  _ and _ a mama cooler than having just a mama or just a daddy? 

Leia said that she told her daddy all about Luke and that her daddy couldn’t wait to meet him. Luke still felt like crying when he thought about that. 

“Mama?” Luke called out. 

“Yes, Luke? Do you need a bathroom break?” His mama turned down the music she was listening to. Something about a hound dog? Grown-ups were weird. 

“No Mama. I-I was wondering about Daddy. What was he like?” Luke waited for his mother’s reply. 

“He was tall and had your hair color and eyes.” His mama began. 

She sounded really sad. Luke felt bad for bringing it up. 

“It’s okay Mama. You don’t have to tell me.” Luke pouted out his lower lip. 

“It’s okay. I want to tell you about him.” 

Luke watched as his mother took a deep breath. She told him about how they met and the accident that took his daddy’s hand. She told him about finding out about Luke and how his dad always wanted to meet him. 

Luke fell asleep to his mother’s words despite his best attempts to stay awake and listen. He dreamt of flying in airplanes with his daddy as his daddy’s co-pilot. His mama was behind him in the back of the plane with a small dark-haired girl that Luke knew was Leia. 

*****

Padme sighed as her words trailed off. Luke was sleeping in his car seat. She switched the music from Elvis to some soft jazz. 

Padme focused on the road. It felt good getting things about Anakin off her chest. Well, not good exactly. More like bittersweet? Yeah. Bittersweet. Luke would never know about her sweet daughter she lost. 

As Padme drove she focused half on the road. The other half of her was lost in memories. 

***

_ “Hmmm. I think Amidala.” Padme grinned up at Anakin.  _

_ “Luke and Amidala Skywalker?” Anakin shook his head. His blonde hair falling in his blue eyes. “No. They need something different. Something that makes them unique from all other twins out there.”  _

_ Padme and Anakin were walking down the row of shops in her town. The main street was buzzing with all the traffic.  _

_ Padme wrapped her arm around Anakin’s waist and laid her head on his shoulders. “Please?”  _

_ Anakin laughed and placed his arm around her shoulders. He pulled her into a half hug. “I like Leia.” He spoke after a few steps.  _

_ “Luke and Leia Skywalker? How unique Ani.” Padme laughed at Anakin’s mock offended look.  _

_ “How many Leias do you see around nowadays? It’s very unique.” Anakin nodded in satisfaction at the argument he put forth.  _

_ Padme laughed happily at the smug look on Anakin’s face. “Alright fine. Luke and Leia Skywalker it is.”  _

_ “Damn right.” Anakin rested his gloved hand on her tummy. “I love you. All three of you. My Angel, my Little Angel, and my Co-pilot.”  _

_ “Hey, Anakin!” A voice called out.  _

_ **** _

Padme broke out of her thoughts with a sharp cry of frustration. It was that stupid car wreck that ruined their lives and killed her baby girl. 

Padme focused back on the road with her heart aching in her chest. No more memories. No more Anakin Skywalker. Just her and her son. That’s all she will focus on this trip. 

She had to get over Anakin. She just had to. 

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

It had been three, almost four days since Leia got the news of Luke’s message. 

Luke was constantly sending her waves of boredom. So, despite her excitement of his arrival, she was also incredibly bored. 

Leia pouted from her place on her daddy’s couch. Her arms were crossed and she was glaring at the tan carpet. 

"Thanks for doing this, Ahsoka. On short notice, too." Her daddy led a teenager into their home.

Leia looked up and met the dark blue eyes of the older girl before her. 

"It's no problem Mr. Skywalker. I got this." The teenager held out her hand to Leia. "Hi, Leia. I'm Ahsoka. I'm going to be watching you today." 

Leia studied the older girl. Her hair was tied in a weird way. It looked cool. Ahsoka’s hair was white with blue streaks.

Leia sat forward and reached her hand out. She hesitated before touching Ahsoka's hair. 

"I like your hair." She announced. "Can you do mine the same way? Daddy? Can I color my hair like Ahsoka's? Why is it white? Are you really old?” 

“Leia!” Leia’s dad choked out.

Leia looked over at her daddy. “What?” 

“It’s alright Mr. Skywalker.” Ahsoka knelt down so she was at Leia’s height. “I’m not old, I just dyed my hair these colors.” 

“Why? Didn’t you like it before?” Leia was confused. Teenagers are cool but maybe they start going weird like grownups? 

“I’ve gotta run. Thanks so much, Ahsoka. I’ll be back by six. Leia?” Leia’s daddy crouched in front of her. He ran his hand over her head. “I’ve got to work. I’ll see you later. Behave. No cutting anyone’s hair.” 

“But I can dye my hair?” Leia looked hopefully at him. 

“No! Ugh. We’ll talk later. Bye Sweetheart.” Daddy kissed her forehead before leaving out the door. 

Leia slumped back on the couch and crossed her arms. She glared at the carpet. 

“So, Leia. What would you like to do?” Ahsoka was leaning against the wall near the TV. 

Leia eyed Ahsoka’s hair before looking away. Hair was something Mamas did. Ahsoka wasn’t her mama but maybe…? 

“C-can you do my hair? Daddy tries but he’s not very good at it.” Leia lifted her head and met the eyes of the older girl. 

“Sure. Do you have hair bands and a brush?” Ahsoka pushed off from the wall and made her way over to Leia. 

“I’ll get it!” Leia jumped down and ran for the bathroom. She gathered her basket and brush and carried them out to the main room. She held them tighter before meeting the eyes of the older girl. “Just cause you are doing my hair does not make you my mama.” She spoke as firmly as she could. 

Ahsoka looked a little bit sick as Leia kept speaking. 

“All my friends say that only mamas are supposed to do your hair.” 

“Do you know who else can do hair?” Ahsoka held out her hand for Leia’s brush.

“No. Who?” Leia pulled the hairbrush away from the teenager. 

“Older sisters, hairdressers, and babysitters.” 

Leia watched as Ahsoka just waited for something. “I’m not a baby! Ms. Watson treated me like a baby and then she kept being nice to my daddy so I cut off her hair.” 

Ahsoka made a small noise that Leia ignored. 

“You’re not my sister but it would be awesome if you were.” Leia thought about the last thing Ahsoka said. Hairdresser. “What’s a hairdresser?” 

“A hairdresser is someone who takes care of hair for other people. They might cut it, dye it, or style it.” Ahsoka didn’t push Leia to hand over the brush. 

Leia thought about it. Having a hairdresser would be alright. Ahsoka could dye her hair like hers! “Okay. You’re my hairdresser.” Leia set down the basket and her brush. “Can we dye my hair like yours?” 

“Uh… let’s wait for your dad for that.” Ahsoka ran the brush through Leia’s dark locks. 

“But…” Leia pouted. 

“You’ll want his opinion, right? You want to make sure he likes it. It won’t do to have a color he hates.” 

Ahsoka was really smart, Leia decided. Even though her words came out a little fast. “Alright. I’ll wait for Daddy.” 

Leia thought it was funny when Ahsoka let out a big breath of air. 

“What are we going to do for my hair?” 

*****

Luke was getting worried. They had been on the road for a really long time. Right now they were having breakfast in a hotel outside of a place called Denver. 

Huge mountains were far off in the distance. They were bigger than the ones they drove through to get here. He hoped these mountains were nicer on his ears. The last ones made his ears pop and made his tummy feel sick. 

“Luke? Eat up. We need to get back on the road.” 

Luke looked over to see his mama drinking from a grown-up cup. Coffee was inside it. 

His mama had been drinking a lot of grown-up drinks. Some of them came in colorful cans with weird names like Monster and RedBull. Luke wasn’t allowed to drink any. 

Luke swirled his spoon in his cheerios. He didn’t want to get back in the car. It was boring and there was nothing to do except look out the window. 

“Come on Luke.” 

Luke cast a frown at his mama. “It’s taking forever. We’ll never get to Arizona.” Luke pouted. 

“This is the last day in the car. I promise. When the sun sets, we’ll be in Arizona at the Grand Canyon.” 

Luke thought about that. His mama never breaks her promises. “Deal.” Luke shoved another bite of soggy cheerios into his mouth. 

Soon enough, they were back on the road. This time, his mama put some kind of story on the radio. Luke listened to the story about a thief stealing some treasure but became a hero instead. 

Luke was sleepy after they stopped for lunch and so he fell asleep in his car seat knowing that soon he would meet Leia and her daddy. 

*****

Anakin sighed inaudibly as he studied the mess before him. The wires were toast and the hard drive looked burnt beyond repair. It would be difficult and expensive to fix but he could do it. 

He finished talking about payment with his customer and went back to studying the computer. 

The bell rang above the door to his shop. “Just a second.” He called from the back. 

“Oh, no need. I’ll just wait here.” A familiar voice called. 

Anakin walked out of the workroom of his shop and came face to face with his best friend. “Hey, Obi.” Anakin leaned against the counter tiredly. 

“What’s wrong this time?” Obi placed his hand on his chin.

“Leia cut the ponytail off her daycare teacher and now no one will accept her in their daycare and my mom is busy laughing about this and is going on a trip with my stepdad and I have a teenager watching my hellion of a daughter because no one else is willing. Oh, and Leia wants to see the Grand Canyon tomorrow and I just got a very busted up laptop that a customer is paying me twice as much to have it done by Monday.” Anakin rubbed his hand across his face. 

“Wait, Leia cut her daycare teacher’s hair? Why?” 

Of course, that was what Obi would catch out of that. 

“Apparently she was being ‘mean’ and Leia decided she needed to get even with her teacher for putting her in time out.” Anakin sagged against the counter. “It’s about her imaginary friend. Ms. Watson was trying to make sure that Leia knew Luke wasn’t real.” 

“Isn’t Luke the name of…” Obi trailed off in his words. 

Anakin was grateful. Luke was the name he wanted to name his son. Well, Padme wanted to name him that. 

“Oh. I see, now. Who is watching her?” Obi tried to change the subject. 

“Ahsoka Tano. Her boyfriend is my part-time employee and suggested her to me when he found me looking over daycare sights. Hopefully, it’s going well.” Anakin fiddled with the binder of payments he offers on the desk. 

“You look like you need a break.” Obi’s voice sounded genuine. 

“I really do.” Anakin stood up as a customer walked in. 

Anakin quickly took care of them. It was a simple battery replacement in a phone for a teenager. This particular girl had many difficulties with her devices that really were all simple fixes. 

After sending her on her way, he slumped back into the counter. 

“It seems you have an admirer.” Obi teased trying to lighten the mood. 

“Great. Jailbait. Just what I need.” Anakin grumbled, not rising to the playful taunt. 

“Anakin. Take the weekend off. Have Rex work the shop for a while. I’m sure that he can handle it. Go and visit the Grand Canyon with your daughter. You can’t keep doing this.” Obi laid a hand on Anakin’s shoulder. “You need a break.” 

"I can't leave the shop for that long with only Rex to manage and I have the laptop to fix. I can't take a break." Anakin protested. 

"Then take Saturday afternoon off. Drive to the Grand Canyon and see it with Leia. Have some father-daughter bonding time. I will watch the shop that afternoon. I don't know much about mechanics but I am good with people. I can take over the counter and Rex can make any repairs that are within his skill set. Anything beyond that we will leave for you." Obi offered a different solution. 

Anakin debated in his mind for a few minutes. He really needed a break, if only for an afternoon. Anakin cast his gaze at all the projects he had laying around his shop. "Alright fine. Only for the afternoon. We'll be back by seven. Did you need something Obi?" 

"Yes. I'm leaving on a trip in a few days. I'm going to go… visit someone at their family's vacation home. I need someone to look after Tooka for a week. I trust you and Leia will take good care of her?" Obi ran his hand along the counter and wouldn't meet his eyes. 

Anakin smiled a smirking grin. "Of course. We'll take good care of your cat." 

"Thanks, Anakin. I’ll bring her around on Monday." Obi turned and left the shop. 

Just as the door was about to close, Anakin yelled out, "Say hi to Satine for me!" Anakin then bent over and laughed heartily at the shocked look on his best friend's face and the stumble he gave over the curb. 

Anakin's humor fell flat a few seconds later. At least one of them was getting a happy ending. "Oh, Padme. You would have laughed at that too." 

Anakin went about his work with a bittersweet air about him. 

***

Luke woke up to Leia’s fierce pokes in his mind. He groaned softly and muttered. “Not now Leia. I was sleeping.” 

“You okay back there, Luke?” Luke’s Mama called from the front of the car. “Do we need a pit stop?” 

“I’m fine Mama.” Luke heard Leia in his head. 

_ “When are you going to be there? Daddy and I are going to be there after lunch tomorrow.”  _

“Hold on. I’ll ask.” Luke whispered. “Mama? What time are we going to be at the huge crack?” 

“Tomorrow morning. I thought we could get there early before everyone else.” Luke’s mama frowned and kept looking at him through the mirror. 

Luke thought for a moment. “I wanna see it after lunch,” Luke announced. 

“Why then, Sweetheart?” 

Luke liked it when his mama was soft like this. 

Luke thought about how to answer her. He decided to tell the truth. Lying was bad. At least that’s what his mama says. 

“I’m meeting someone,” Luke spoke firmly. 

Luke could tell his mama didn’t get it. She just looked at him like he did something cute. Luke was not cute!

“Who are we meeting at the Grand Canyon that we had to travel over two thousand miles to see?” Luke’s mama was still soft but he could tell she still wasn’t believing him. 

“Someone important.” Luke widened his blue eyes and did something he rarely does. He begged his mama. “Please mama. It’s very important. Can we please go after lunch?” 

Luke’s mama seemed sad for a moment before saying yes. “Okay. We can go after lunch. I’m sure there are other things we can do before then.” 

Luke poked Leia back, harder than she did to him when she woke him up. 

_ “Ouch Luke! That hurt!”  _

“We will be there after lunch tomorrow. Can I go back to sleep now?” Luke spoke quietly. 

Luke felt Leia’s happiness.  _ “Sure Luke. I’ll see you tomorrow?”  _

“Uh-huh. Night night.” Luke closed his eyes. 

Before he fell asleep he heard his mama say, “Good night Luke.” 

*****

Leia was nearly bouncing when Ahsoka made dinner for the two of them. 

“What’s got you so happy?” Ahsoka put some mayo on a piece of bread. 

“I get to meet my very best friend tomorrow.” Leia giggled. “I’m getting a Mama tomorrow  _ and _ I get to see my daddy be happy.” 

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow. “How are you getting a mom tomorrow?” 

Leia sighed. It seemed that teenagers  _ do _ grow to be weird like adults. “Luke. He doesn’t have a daddy and I don’t have a Mama. Luke is coming to meet me and he’s bringing his mama. My daddy will meet Luke’s mama and will be happy.” 

Does she have to spell it out for all the grown-ups? Maybe they got more stupid as they grew up, Leia thought with horror. She never wanted to grow up then. 

“I’m never growing up!” Leia spoke out loud. 

“Well, that’s a relief. And here I thought that my little angel would get big and leave me all alone.” 

“Daddy!” Leia yelled and ran for the door. She collided with her dad’s legs and hugged him as best as she could. “I’ll never leave you! I swear.” 

Swearing was something Ahsoka did today when Leia wanted to play with Larry and Mrs. Snuffles. She had said that ‘kids were rowdy sometimes but she loved them any way that she swore’. 

“What do you know about swearing, Little Angel?” Leia’s daddy picked her up and held her to his chest. 

“I know that you only do it when you mean something really important.” Leia kissed her dad’s cheek. “I love you daddy. I’m never leaving you.” 

“Thank you, Little Angel.” 

Daddy seemed like he was unhappy so Leia gave him another hug. “Don’t be sad, Daddy.” 

“Okay. No being sad. Gotcha.” Leia’s daddy set her on his hip. “Thank you, Ahsoka for watching her.” 

Leia tuned out the boring grown-up talk and began thinking. 

Luke doesn’t know what she really looks like beyond dark hair and brown eyes. There must be a million little girls with dark hair and brown eyes. A few of them might even be at this huge crack place with her tomorrow. 

How will Luke know it’s her and how will she know it’s Luke? 

All Luke told her was that he had light yellow hair and blue eyes. Again, there are lots of boys with light yellow hair and blue eyes. Leia knows of three of them in her last daycare. 

They need some way to make sure they know who they are. 

Leia eyed Ahsoka’s weird hair as she was gathering her things to go. Ahsoka had called them braids. Maybe if Leia did her hair like Ahsoka’s, she would stand out more? Ahsoka did stand out. Leia could easily spot her from a mile away. 

Ahsoka was watching her tomorrow. Her daddy said so. Maybe Ahsoka could do her hair again and this time make it different than the simple two braids down her head that she did. 

That took care of that problem. 

Now, how was she going to know it was Luke? She could always wait for a yellow-haired blue-eyed boy to approach her but Leia threw that idea away. It wasn’t finding each other if one of them was not looking. 

Leia watched as Ahsoka’s brightly colored hair swayed behind her as daddy handed her something. 

That was it! Luke could wear a bright color and she would know it was him! 

Ahsoka was amazing and super smart! She just answered Leia’s questions without even her asking!

Leia wiggled until her daddy set her down. Leia ran for the teenager and hugged her around her knees. “Thanks ‘Soka. You’re super smart. I’ll see you tomorrow? I need your help with something.” 

Ahsoka knelt down and gave her a hug. “You’re super smart too, Leia. You didn’t cut my hair today so we are good.” 

Leia scowled at the mention of that. “I only cut Ms. Watson’s hair because she was mean and she was always too nice to Daddy. She made these faces at him that made my tummy hurt and I wanted to throw up. You don’t do that to him so I don’t have to cut your hair.” 

Ahsoka was smiling at her. Even though she looked a little sick, she was still smiling. “I promise, your dad is safe from me.” 

Leia felt unsure. “Everybody does that to him. Ms. Watson, the neighbor, and even the lady at the store.” 

Ahsoka rubbed her chin in thought like Uncle Obi does before saying something he had to think really hard over. “I’ll make you a deal. I will never do that to your dad.” She muttered something under her breath that Leia didn’t catch before continuing. “And you will never cut someone’s hair without permission ever again.” 

Leia eagerly agreed. “Deal.” Leia held out her hand just like Uncle Obi did after making one of these deals with someone else. 

Ahsoka shook her hand. “Deal. Besides, I already have someone. My boyfriend. Rex.” 

Leia frowned. That was a new word. “What’s a boyfriend?” 

“Leia, I think Ahsoka has to get home now. I’m sure that her dad will be upset if she’s late.” Leia’s daddy cut it. 

Leia nodded her head. “Sorry, ‘Soka. I don’t want your daddy mad at you. You can go. I’ll see you tomorrow?” 

“Bright and early, Leia.” Ahsoka stood up. She slung her colorful bag across her shoulder. “Thanks, Mr. Skywalker. I’ll be here tomorrow at eight.” 

“Might want to make it eight-thirty. Leia likes to sleep in.” Leia’s daddy held the door open for Ahsoka. “Thank you for that little deal. I was trying to find a way to make sure she didn’t cut someone’s hair again.” 

Leia got bored of what the grown-ups were doing and went into the kitchen. Maybe if she finishes dinner, her daddy will be happy? 

Leia dragged her chair over to the counter, climbed up, and eyed the meats and cheeses on the top. 

Leia noticed that Ahsoka wasn’t finished with the mayo. She grabbed the spatula and placed some on a plain slice of bread. Daddy liked a lot of mayo. She then grabbed an open package of ham and began stacking in on one slice of bread. She made it nice and thick. 

She then tried to open a pack of her daddy’s favorite cheese. It wouldn’t open. Leia grunted as she tried to rip it. Her elbow flailed about and she accidentally knocked the mayonnaise container off the counter. 

It landed with a loud clatter. Mayo spilled on the floor and splattered Leia’s chair. Leia shrieked as tiny drops of it landed on her bare feet. 

The front door slammed shut and her daddy came running to Leia’s rescue. Leia heard his footsteps down the hallway. 

“Daddy! Help!” Leia didn’t want to step in the white goop that was all over the floor beneath her. 

Her daddy, her savior, came and picked her up off the chair. “What were you doing Leia?” 

“Making you some dinner.” Leia pouted. She pointed at the counter. “I couldn’t open the cheese and the mayo jar spilled.” 

“I see that.” Leia’s daddy set her on top of a different counter and wiped her feet with a paper towel. “Stay up here.” He told her. He then bent down and cleaned up the mayo and picked up the jar and utensil. 

Leia stared at her daddy and suddenly she felt really bad. 

Luke doesn’t have a daddy. He doesn’t have someone that will come save him from spiders or worms or even evil gross mayo jars. He doesn’t have someone that will scare the monsters away from under his bed and in the closet. He doesn’t have someone that will hold him while he’s crying over some stupid bully and promise to make sure the bully stays away from his little angel. 

Leia felt tears roll down her cheeks. She sobbed as she recalled all the times her daddy came to save her. Luke didn’t have that. 

Leia’s daddy picked her up and rocked her back and forth as he rubbed her back. Leia’s daddy spoke comforting words to her softly and told her it would be okay. 

Leia’s daddy was awesome. Luke was her best friend. Leia was perfectly okay with sharing her daddy with someone who was just as special as her daddy. Luke would never miss out ever again. 

*****

Luke was eating dinner when he felt Leia’s sadness. Luke stopped eating and began to cry. He felt like he was missing something that was special. Like he left behind Lucy at one of these hotels and would never see her ever again. 

Luke grabbed his stuffie and ignored his dinner while he cried into Lucy’s long neck. 

“Luke, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Luke’s mama came over next to him. 

They were eating at a place that had a playground for kids. Kids were running around screaming while tired mama’s and daddy’s sat at tables. 

Luke was sitting in a booster seat while his mama was sitting next to him. 

“Is it too loud in here?” Luke’s mama lifted him from his seat and held him. With one hand she placed his food back inside the red and yellow box it came in and picked up her trash. She carried him, his box of food, and her trash to the door. 

Luke just clung to her neck and cried as Leia’s sadness grew stronger before fading away. 

“We’re almost there. Just two more hours in the car. Then we’ll get a room at a hotel and we’ll see the Grand Canyon tomorrow.” 

Luke let his mama’s soothing words and tone calm him down. He swiped his face with his sleeve. “I’m sorry Mama.” 

“There’s no need to be sorry, my little space pilot.” His mama’s words were teasing and soft. “Even the greatest pilots get scared.” 

“Was daddy ever scared?” Luke managed to get out. 

His mama was quiet until she got Luke buckled in his car seat and was driving onto the big fast road again. 

“He was very scared.” 

Luke had almost forgotten his question. Now he paid attention eagerly. His mama almost never talked about him. 

“He was scared he wasn’t going to be a good enough dad. He was scared he would somehow manage to mess everything up and be a bad dad like his father was.” 

Luke watched the lights pass by out the window as he grew sleepy. He tried to stay awake to hear more. 

“He would have been a wonderful dad. Even though we lost…” Here his mama cut off her words. 

Luke was suddenly awake. “Lost who Mama?” 

“Nothing. Go to sleep, Sweetheart.” Luke’s mama turned on some music that always made Luke tired. 

It was wordless and had soft piano playing. Sometimes it even had a nice trumpet sound. 

Luke yawned and fell asleep. He slept through the last two hours of their trip. He slept through being carried into a hotel room. He slept through the night and only woke up when Leia’s excitement cracked through him. 

He blinked and sat up. He saw the sun faintly shining through the curtains of the small room they were in. His mama was sleeping on the bed next to him. 

Luke was confused for a moment before he remembered. Today was the day. Today was the day he got to meet Leia for the first time since he was born. Today was the day he got a new daddy. Today his mama would finally be happy.

He couldn’t wait. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is. The long awaited meeting between Anakin and Padme. This story is far from over. You have cuteness from Leia and Luke and much angst between Anakin and Padme. What's one of my stories without some angst? It's not truly mine unless I throw some angst into it. 
> 
> Don't get too mad now. Everything will work itself out. I hope. ;)

Anakin groaned as a weight landed on his stomach and ribs. 

“Daddy! Wake up! Wake up, Daddy! Today is the day! Today I get to go to the huge crack and meet Luke!” 

Leia bouncing on his middle was not pleasant. Anakin looked over at his alarm clock and groaned. Six in the morning. What the heck was his lazy-in-the-morning daughter doing up at freaking six o’clock in the morning? 

Anakin slung an arm around the excited wiggling four-year-old and rolled over in bed. He dragged the child off his middle and onto the soft mattress beside him. “No. Too early. Go back to bed little Padawan.” 

“No daddy! Wake up!” Leia’s little hands landed on his side and tried to gently shake him awake just like he did to her when she decided to sleep in. Which would have been awesome if she could have done it today. 

"Go to bed. Sleepy." Anakin yawned. 

A dull punch landed on his side. Anakin jolted more from shock than pain. 

"Daddy! Wake up!" Leia ordered. Her voice was firm and angry. "You need to get clean and ready. You have to take a bath and do that thing with the sharp thing I'm not supposed to touch. You have to eat breakfast and wear your best clothes. You have to brush your teeth and eat some mint candy. Now Daddy!" 

Anakin sat up. "Did you just hit me, Leia?" 

"Yes. Now get up! I gotta talk to Luke to work out some details. Get up, Daddy!" Leia climbed off his bed. 

Anakin watched her go with confusion. What on Earth was his little angel up to? 

He slumped back to the mattress and yawned. Maybe he could sleep for a few more seconds…

“Daddy! What did I tell you? You better be getting up right now.” Leia shrieked from his doorway. 

Anakin groaned. Today was going to be a long day. 

****

Leia bounced in place. Today was the day! Everything was going to work out perfectly. Daddy was going to meet Luke’s mama and be happy. They might do something gross like kissing. 

Leia had caught Grandma kissing Grandpa once. They told her it was what some mamas and daddies did when they love each other. 

Leia was prepared for that. She had her hands ready to cover her eyes. 

She also needed to bring Larry. He was going to meet his best friend Lucy today. It seemed rude to leave him behind and have him wait to meet her. 

She needed to pack her backpack with her favorite toys and her juice and her favorite snacks. She needed to bring her blankie and her storybook to read on the long trip back with Luke. 

Leia had been up so early she saw the sun come up. She let her daddy sleep in as long as she could let him. The excitement got to be too much and she woke him up too soon. 

Leia could hardly get to sleep last night. The only way she managed to sleep was calling on Luke and letting his sleepiness wash over her until she slept in her own bed. 

Leia was so excited she couldn’t sit still. She managed to pack her bag and set it by the door  _ and _ dress herself before her Daddy got out of bed. He was so slow this morning!

Leia sat down on the floor by her other stuffies. After assuring them that they would meet Luke soon and that Larry got to come because of Lucy and how fair that was, she turned her attention to Luke. 

She could sense that he was awake and just as eager as her. 

“Luke?” Leia tried poking him again. A lot gentler than last time. Luke’s poke back had hurt. Really bad. Her head hurt hours after it. 

_ “Leia? I’m so happy. Today is the day!”  _ Luke was very happy. 

“I know. We have some things to talk about.” Leia told him softly. 

_ “Like what?”  _ Luke was confused now. 

“Like how are we going to recognize each other when we do get there.” Leia hurriedly continued when Luke’s feelings turned sad. “I’m going to have my hair in a crazy style. Ahsoka is going to do it. Ahsoka has crazy hair too and it’s colored blue and white. She actually gave me the idea. So, I’m going to have dark hair that’s crazy and you are going to wear a bright color so I know it’s you.” 

_ “I have a bright blue shirt. Mama and I got them in a town in Arkansas. We went to a fun museum where I could play with the things on the shelves.”  _

“Perfect!” Leia beamed. “I’ll look for a boy with a bright blue shirt and you look for a girl with crazy hair.” 

_ “Okay. Leia? Why were you so sad last night? I felt it too.”  _ Luke felt worried. 

“I’ll tell you later,” Leia promised. “I want to tell you in person so I can hug you.” 

_ “Okay.”  _ Luke’s eagerness climbed up.  _ “Mama is waking up. I have to go.”  _ Luke paused.  _ “I’ll see you later, Leia.”  _

“See you later, Luke.” Leia jumped up from the floor. That was all sorted. What was next on her list? Oh yeah. Getting her Daddy ready. 

“Daddy!” Leia ran from her room. 

****

Padme blinked and stretched in her bed. Luke was, unusually, already up. 

“Luke? What are you doing awake?” Padme checked the time on her phone. “It’s only seven in the morning.” 

“I was too happy so I woke up.” Her flaxen-haired little boy grinned at her. 

He did seem happier and almost anxious. Like he was waiting for something special to happen. 

“Give me twenty minutes and we can go hunt down some breakfast.” Padme stretched her arms over her head and yawned. She got out of the bed and headed for the bathroom. “Luke? Are you sure you want to go see it after lunch? We could go this morning and then be on the road by noon. We could go all the way to California and the beach. See the Pacific Ocean.” 

“No!” Luke cried out strongly. 

Padme poked her head out of the bathroom door. She studied her son. He was playing with his hands and staring at the floor. 

“No, Mama,” Luke spoke softer now. “I don’t want to see the beach. I don’t want to see the huge crack this morning either. I want to see it after lunch today.” 

Padme was horribly confused. “Alright.” She headed back into the small bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. 

Padme found out the hotel they were staying at, didn’t have a good breakfast option. She drove around town with a restless Luke and found a diner-type restaurant. They were seated at a booth almost immediately. 

Padme kept a close eye on her son. He seemed way too nervous for a simple trip to the Grand Canyon. Something was up with him. She tried subtly asking questions but only got equally vague answers in return. 

Any other time she would have been proud of what her son managed to pick up from her, but not today. He was way too eager and excited to visit, as he put it, a huge crack in the dirt. 

Padme and Luke strolled around town. The small town boasted a main street with a few shops and an ice cream shop that she wanted to check out later. Spread throughout the place were low built homes and other buildings. 

Padme and Luke got a few things at some of the shops. Luke picked out some strange things. He wanted a pink bear and an actual small tool kit. Padme tried to tell him, no, but Luke cried and begged and said it was important. 

Padme took one look at her son’s pleading and serious face and gave in just this once. After they left the store, she gave him a scolding worthy of her older sister. 

Luke was quiet for a few minutes after she finished her talk. 

They wandered around and found a small spot for lunch. Luke didn’t eat much. He kept bouncing in his seat and glancing everywhere at everything. 

Padme got him to eat about half of his food before paying and leaving with her son. They finally made their way to the Grand Canyon. 

Luke stared at it as it got closer and closer. When they arrived at the museum and skywalk, Luke bounded out of the car and nearly took off without her to the building. 

Padme ran after him and caught him by his arm. “Luke, wait for me, okay? It’s not safe to go running off without me.” 

“Okay, Mama.” Luke had grabbed her hand and basically led the way into the museum. 

Luke seemed more interested in the people than the actual Grand Canyon. He ran around the room for a while before sagging his shoulders and coming back to her. He then began to look over everything from the exhibits to the bathrooms extremely slowly. 

After spending about an hour and a half there, Padme was ready to go. 

“Luke, let’s go. We need to get back to the hotel.” Padme tried to corral her son into leaving, but Luke shocked her. 

“No, Mama. I’m not done. We haven’t gone out there.” Luke waved his hand towards the skywalk. 

Padme eyed the glass and steel structure that was hanging part way out over the wide canyon. Padme was hesitant but agreed when her son looked to put up a fight. 

They stepped out with a group onto the see-through floor. Luke seemed to be fascinated and spent another half an hour out on the skywalk. 

When it just hit the thirty-five-minute mark of them being out here, Luke lit up and ran back through the building. 

“Luke? Wait for me.” Padme ran after her son. 

She heard excited squeals and followed the noise to see her son hugging a dark-haired little girl with her hair in braided buns. 

“You’re here!” Luke kept saying over and over. 

“Luke!” The little girl cried out as well. 

“Leia! Get back here!” A familiar voice called through the crowd. 

Padme’s heart jumped in her chest. Then it started beating three times faster. She searched for the owner of the voice desperately. Her head whipped from side to side, searching for a tall man with dark blond hair and intense blue eyes. 

Someone bumped into her. 

“Sorry.” 

“Excuse me.” 

Both adults froze. 

“P-Padme?” A male voice sounded hesitant like if it wasn’t her he was going to break down. 

Padme turned and met the blue-eyed gaze of a very familiar man. Slightly long, dark blonde hair. Blue eyes that shone with hidden tears and hands (one flesh and bone and one mechanical) that clutched at her sides desperately. 

“Anakin?” 

Padme was confused. Why was he looking at her like she was the most heartbreaking thing ever? Why were tears starting to come down his cheeks? Why was that familiar anger welling up in him? Why did he look like his entire world was flung off its axis? 

“What? I mean… how…?” 

Anakin seemed to be at a loss for words. 

“Anakin? Why are you-?” 

“Mama!” Luke called out. He ran towards her with the dark-haired girl’s hand clutched tightly in his. “Leia? This is my Mama. Mama, this is Leia.” 

Padme stared down at the little girl. She seemed so familiar and her heart ached at the resemblance she had towards the other brunette. 

“Anakin? What?” Padme noticed that Anakin was staring at Luke with the same look he had given her. 

“Who’s…” Anakin’s voice faltered. “Who’s this?” 

“Daddy!” Leia pulled Luke forward. “Daddy, I told you I was going to meet Luke today. This is Luke.” 

Luke seemed almost shy as he stared up at Anakin. “Hi. I’m Luke.” 

Anakin knelt down before the boy. “How old are you Luke?” 

“I’m four. My birthday is on May fourth.” Luke told him with some amount of boldness. 

Anakin’s shoulders seemed to be shaking. 

Leia’s excited squeal drew even more attention to them. 

“Anakin?” Padme placed a gentle hand on the distraught man’s arm. “We need to go somewhere and talk I think.” 

Anakin gave a shaky nod. “Yeah. My home is two hours away? We can all ride in my truck?” 

Padme didn’t say anything and led the two excited kids and shaken dad out of the museum for the Grand Canyon. 

“We can go to our hotel room. It’s right down the road.” Padme offered. “And we can each take our own vehicle.” 

Anakin shot a desperate wide-eyed look at her. He reached out and gently touched her hand before pulling back and clenching his hand into a fist. “I…” He didn’t seem to be able to keep going. 

Padme led the small group over to her equally small car. She got Luke into his car seat and Leia was seated next to him. Both kids were oblivious to the strained tension between the adults. 

****

Anakin’s mind was in a whirlwind of pain and shock. 

Padme was alive? Luke was alive? Leia knew Luke? Leia’s imaginary friend Luke was actually his son, Leia’s own twin brother Luke? Padme was alive? 

Around and around his head spun. He was barely aware of being led outside to a small car without even seeing what they came there to see. 

Anakin felt Padme start to drift away and he reached for her with panic racing through his veins. If this was a dream he never wanted to wake up. 

An engine rumbled to life underneath him and Anakin felt himself moving. He noticed things, blurry shapes, flying past outside his window. 

Leia’s excited high pitched talking brought him back from the mess he was in. Leia needed him. He needed to wake up. Anakin pinched the skin right above his prosthetic. It hurt. Badly. 

“This isn’t a dream.” Anakin murmured with wonder. His Angel was alive! Alongside his little boy, he thought he would never see again! 

“Ani?” Padme’s gentle voice called his name. 

Anakin slowly closed his eyes and let the soothing tones flow over him. Tears sprung to his eyes and he wasn’t ashamed of them slipping out. He dared any man to think his one and only was dead for five years and then hear their voice again. They would cry too. 

“Ani.” Padme’s voice was sad now. Smaller hands than his own cupped his face. A soft press of thumbs gently wiped his tears away. 

“Daddy?” Leia sounded so upset as well. “No, no, no, no! You are supposed to be happy!” Leia nearly screamed. “I finally got a Mama and you are not allowed to be sad!” 

Little knees landed on his thighs and small hands roughly grabbed the front of his shirt. Dark eyes glared into his. “You are supposed to be happy and kissy-face like Grandma and Grandpa do.” 

Anakin stared as Leia began to sob. “I try so hard Daddy! I am good, I help out around the house, I make sure my room is clean and I try to help you. Why aren’t you happy? I just want you to be happy.” Leia buried her face in Anakin’s chest and began to cry like her heart was breaking. 

Anakin’s dad instinct kicked in and his arms immediately came up around the heaving, sobbing, little girl. He instantly began hushing her and rubbing her back. “Leia. I am happy. I really am. I swear. Thank you so much for being a good girl and making me happy.” 

“Then why are you crying? I don’t like it when you cry.” Leia wailed. 

“Anakin? Let’s take this into our room.” Padme was holding Luke who was also crying like his own heart was being shattered. 

Anakin stood up with Leia tucked into his chest and carried her into the hotel room door that Padme held open. 

This hotel had the doors to the rooms outside so you could easily park by your room and not disturb anyone. Anakin found he was grateful for that because he really did not want to carry two crying kids through a lobby and hallways filled with other people. 

Anakin sat on one bed and Padme sat on the other while they tried to comfort their respective kids. 

“Why are you crying, Luke?” 

Anakin couldn’t help but listen to Padme’s words. Even while he was focused on calming down Leia and murmuring words of comfort to her, he didn’t want to go another day without ever hearing his Angel’s voice. 

“B-because Leia is sad.” Luke whimpered into Padme’s shoulder. “I can feel her.” 

Padme looked just as confused as him. 

“Leia? Do you want to tell me about how you know Luke?” Anakin jostled the little girl gently. 

Leia sighed wetly in what could only be exasperation. “Don’t you listen to anything I tell you?” 

“Leia Amidala Skywalker, don’t give me attitude. I asked a simple question. I expect a nice answer.” Anakin scolded his sassy daughter. 

Anakin’s head whipped up as he heard a wonderful sound. Padme was laughing. 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t laugh but I swore for a second someone was calling the kettle black.” Padme had her hand raised to her mouth to stifle her giggles. 

Anakin frowned at her. He felt a little irritated. “I’m trying to parent here.” 

“And you are doing wonderfully.” Padme’s praise was a soothing balm to Anakin’s feelings. For years he had always worried that he wasn’t doing it right or doing it enough to meet Padme’s expectation. Now his worries melted away bit by bit. 

“Daddy? What’s going on?” Leia’s head was tilted to the side as she squinted at him. Her braided buns were nearly in a diagonal line. 

Anakin gave a small happy smile at his daughter. “Leia? I would like you to meet Padme Amidala Naberrie. Padme, meet Leia Amidala Skywalker.” 

Leia’s eyes got big. “Amidala? Th-that’s my name! Grandma said I got it from my…” 

Anakin’s smart little girl put the pieces together quite fast for a four-year-old. “M- mama?” Leia’s voice was hesitant. Like she was afraid Padme would hate her. 

Anakin watched as his Angel met his Little Angel for the first time. 

“Hello, Sweetheart.” Padme immediately thrust Luke at him because a sobbing dark-haired little girl just flung herself at her newfound mother. 

Anakin caught the quiet little boy that held so much resemblance to him that it was almost eerie looking at him. 

“Hi, Luke.” Anakin greeted. 

Luke turned shrewd blue eyes on him. “If Leia’s Mama is my mama does that make you my real Daddy?” 

“What do you think, Luke?” Anakin held his breath as familiar blue eyes widened with tears and small arms flew around his neck in a tight squeeze. 

Anakin comforted the sobbing little boy the same way he would comfort Leia but all that seemed to do was make him cry harder. 

Anakin shot a helpless look at Padme who was busy with her own crying child. 

Padme shrugged her shoulders at him and kept rubbing Leia’s back. Suddenly she frowned. “Ani? What does she mean by ‘I thought you were gone’?” 

Anakin felt tears of his own spring to his eyes. “When I got Leia, your parents had said you died from giving birth to them and Luke died with you. All I had left was Leia. I was in shock and I waited for a few hours there to be told it was all a joke. They discharged Leia and said she was perfectly healthy. I looked at her and all I could see was what you had suffered for. A precious little girl. I took Leia and left the hospital when they threatened to call security. 

“I tried waiting around for a few days to hear about when your funerals were going to be but your parents told me it was all my fault that the two of you were dead and they told me they already cremated the both of you and distributed your ashes so I had nothing left. I packed up and headed home to Arizona to my mom.” Anakin shifted Luke to his hip. 

Padme was frowning fiercely and glaring at the wall. “Those… those…” Padme swore in her native tongue before turning to face Anakin. “I’m so sorry Ani. If I knew I would have left a long time ago to hunt you down. I swear I would never have abandoned you and Leia.” 

“I know Padme.” Anakin’s voice caught on her name. He had sworn to never speak her name again. It just hurt too much. Now he wanted to shout it from the rooftops. “What… What were you told about me?” Anakin was almost afraid to ask. If her parents would fake her death and leave him in agony for five years, what would they do to their own daughter?

“They told me that Leia died during birth. That when you heard the news you left from the hospital never to be seen again. I tried everything for the first few months. I tried contacting your friends. I tried calling your number. By the time I was contemplating pestering your old landlady I decided to drop it. Luke needed me and I couldn’t hold on to someone who had left us.” Padme felt tears spring to her eyes. “I tried so hard to forget you. I had thought you left me when I needed you the most. My daughter had just died and I needed you but you were gone and I…” 

Anakin pulled Luke to rest on his hip and slung his other arm around his angels. “Never Padme. I will never leave you ever again. I wouldn’t then, and I will never now. I swear it.” Anakin felt joy at having his family in his arms. His complete family. His son, his daughter, and his love. They all fit in his arms perfectly. 

Leia and Luke were being suspiciously quiet. 

Anakin had a thought and looked over at Padme. “What are you doing in Arizona anyway? I thought you hated the desert even more than me.” 

Padme tipped her head to stare at her two children. “Luke wanted to see the Grand Canyon. I needed a break and decided to go with him.” 

“That’s funny, Leia wanted to see it… too. Leia? Luke? What are you two up to?” Anakin also stared at the troublemaking twins. 

“Well, you see Daddy.” Leia began. 

Anakin sighed. This was going to be quite the story. 

****

Leia was over the moon with joy. It was something she heard Uncle Obi say and she felt it fit this perfectly. 

Luke was not just her best friend, he was her brother! Luke’s mama was actually her mama too and her daddy was happy! It was the best day ever! 

Sure she was confused earlier and so upset that her plan didn’t work out exactly like she thought it would. Daddy hadn’t kissed Luke’s mama and he cried when they arrived at Luke’s hotel room, but it was even better! Her real Mama wasn’t gone like Goldie and Luke was her brother! 

Leia couldn’t be happier. She had a brother like Uncle Obi was to Daddy. An actual brother! One who was her exact age too! And had the same birthday! May fourth. 

Then her Daddy was looking at her like he does when Leia had done something bad. 

Leia squirmed in her Mama’s lap. “Well, you see Daddy, me and Luke decided for you two to meet. I knew you were sad and Luke knew that his Mama was sad too. I didn’t have a mama and Luke didn’t have a daddy. I thought you would be happier with someone like Grandma Shmi is and Luke thought the same about his mama. We figured out how to get you both here by ourselves. Luke had the hard part though. He was so bored traveling across the country.” 

“Whoa, slow down Little Angel.” Leia’s daddy held up his hand. “You and Luke talked? How? On the phone?” 

Leia rolled her eyes.  _ Geeze, grown-ups are so stupid sometimes.  _

_ Sometimes. _ Luke agreed. 

Leia had been happy to discover that when Luke and she met for the first time, they didn’t need to use words to talk to each other. They could talk in their minds. 

“No Daddy.” Leia dragged out the word. She was so fed up with his slowness. “When I talk, Luke can hear me if I want him to. Same for Luke. When he wants me to, I can hear him. When Luke is sad, I’m sad. When I’m angry, Luke is angry. When one of us is happy the other is happy. Do you get it now, Daddy?” 

Leia watched her daddy narrow his eyes at her. He opened his mouth but someone else beat him to it. 

  
“Leia, I know you did not just have an attitude with your dad. You need to be nicer to him. He’s doing the best he can and your sass is not appreciated or wanted.” 

Leia’s head dropped at her mama’s scolding. Somehow it was worse coming from her. “But, I’ve been telling him for days!” Leia tried to protest. “It’s not my fault he doesn’t get it.” 

“Leia.” Leia’s mama sighed with something in her tone that made Leia feel awful. “Somehow, I don’t envy you Ani. She must be a handful.” 

“You have no idea. Remind me to tell you later about Ms. Watson and her new haircut.” Leia’s daddy seemed really happy. 

Leia scowled at the mention of that woman. “I’ve already told you I did that because she was mean and trying to be my new mama. I told her that you don’t like her and she sent me to time out and then forgot all about me being there. I wanted her to leave us alone and I did get her to. That’s all.” 

Leia was grumpy. Why didn’t her Daddy get that things were that simple? And then he had to keep bringing up mean Ms. Watson. 

_ Leia? Ms. Watson isn’t going to keep watching us, is she? _

_ No Luke. Ahsoka is watching us now. Ahsoka is nice. She has blue and white hair and it's in a weird way. She has three braids in her hair. Big braids. I’ll tell you more later.  _

Leia smiled at her Mama and Daddy. She had a mama now. And a brother. This was going to be awesome. 


	5. Chapter 5

Luke bounced in his seat. After explaining most of their story to his mama and daddy, they headed back to the huge crack and got his daddy’s car. It was a truck. Not a big one or a little one, a perfect sized truck. 

Luke wanted to ride with his daddy (and wasn’t that still new to think about) and Leia wanted to ride with his mama. Luke’s mama was uncertain but Luke and Leia begged them. 

Luke was happily sitting in the back of his daddy’s truck in Leia’s pink car seat. Wait, that reminded him. 

“D-daddy?” Luke was hesitant to call this grown-up daddy. What if he didn’t want Luke to call him that? What if he didn’t like Luke at all? 

Luke’s fears melted as his daddy smiled at him through the mirror and spoke nicely to him. “Yes, Luke?” 

“I got you a present. Leia too. I… I wanted you to like me.” Luke nearly whispered the last part. 

Luke’s dad turned the car before he answered. “Luke, I lo... do like you. You didn’t have to get me anything. But I’ll treasure it forever.” 

Luke didn’t know what it meant to ‘treasure’ something but forever was a good thing. Luke smiled. “Thank you, Daddy.” 

“What do you like to do Luke?” Luke’s daddy asked him. 

“I want to fly! Mama told me stories about you flying. I want to do it too. I also wanted to learn how to fix things. One time our heater broke and Mama had to call someone to fix it. I got to sleep in her bed with her that night because it was really cold in the house. Then the guy showed up and I wanted to help him fix it so next time Mama didn’t have to call him. He was mean. He left his boots on and tracked dirt through the house. Mama doesn’t like that.” Luke was so excited to talk to his daddy that he forgot to breathe and by the end of his story, he was panting just like he had run across the street. 

Luke’s daddy was smiling so big it looked like it hurt. “Do you know what I do?” He asked. 

Luke shook his head. Mama said he used to be a pilot but never told him what he did after his accident. 

“I fix things. Not heaters and things like that but I fix phones and old computers.” Luke’s daddy paused for a moment. “I actually have a huge project I need help with. D-do you think you can help me if I teach you?” 

Luke felt his cheeks hurt from how much he was smiling. “Really? You’ll teach me how to fix things so Mama doesn’t have to call guys to fix them for her? Thank you, Daddy! You are the best!” 

Luke’s daddy finally parked the truck in a parking lot. Luke quickly unsnapped the buckles holding him in and climbed over the seat to give his daddy a big hug. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” 

Luke felt his dad’s arms come up around him and hug him tighter than Luke first hugged him. Luke felt squished as Luke’s daddy placed his head on Luke’s shoulder. They stayed like that for a long time. Luke was just happy to finally be in his daddy’s arms. 

Luke jumped when there was a knock on the window. Luke pulled away at the same time as his daddy. He looked out the window to see his Mama and Leia. 

Leia was sitting on his Mama’s hip. His mama’s purse was slung over her shoulder. 

_ Luke? Are you okay?  _

_ I’m fine. Daddy is going to teach me how to fix things.  _

_ Mama is going to help me do my hair and keep all the gross girl grown-ups away from daddy. She wanted to know if Daddy had ‘anybody special’ in his life. I told her of course, I am in his life. She has a pretty laugh. _

Luke was lifted out of the truck. He was still in his dad’s arms. He was settled on his hip just like Leia was on his mama’s side. 

“Where are we?” Luke looked around the parking lot. 

“We are getting some ice cream, Little Co-pilot.” Luke’s daddy answered. 

Luke felt like his heart was going to leap right out of his chest just like he saw on that cartoon Mama let him watch. He patted his chest to make sure it wasn’t jumping in a huge heart shape. 

“What are you doing Luke?” Luke’s Mama watched him with worry on her face. 

“Making sure my heart doesn’t jump out of my chest. I’m so happy I think it just might do that.” Luke smiled as his daddy’s laugh rumbled beside him. 

They reached the store and opened the door. Coldness rushed over him. Luke was happy about that too. It was hot in Arizona. 

“What kind of ice cream do you want?” Luke’s daddy shifted him to his other side so he could see all the flavors better. 

“What kinds do  _ you _ like?” Luke studied the counters filled with the cold treat. 

“I like mint chocolate chip ice cream or orange sherbet.” Luke’s daddy pointed to a bright green ice cream tub in front of them and then to a bright orange one in a different case. 

Luke thought for a moment. He didn’t really like mint but he loved oranges so the choice was easy. “I want some orange sherbert.” 

“Good choice. One small cone of orange sherbert and one scoop cup of mint chocolate chip.” Luke’s daddy told the girl behind the counter. 

“Wait! I want a cup too!” Luke protested. 

Luke’s daddy nodded like what Luke said was very important. “I’m sorry. One scoop cup of orange sherbet and one scoop cup of mint chocolate chip. What do you want, Angels?” 

“Ani, you don’t have to-” 

“I want to. What do you guys want?” Anakin waited for Padme and Leia to say something. When Padme just stared at him and Leia was watching Padme closely, Anakin ordered for them. “You still like strawberry right?” 

“Anakin what are you-” 

“Two one scoop cups of strawberry ice cream, please.” Anakin pulled out his wallet and paid for the frozen treats. “Leia likes strawberry ice cream too. I think it will be a whole lot better, now that Leia will have someone to eat down the carton with her. I don’t mind eating strawberry ice cream but it’s not my favorite.” 

Anakin was avoiding the subject he knew Padme wanted to talk about. He knew they were only there for a few days and knew that she wasn’t staying quite yet, but he was hopeful he could convince her to move to Arizona. 

“Anakin we need to talk.” Padme put her hand on his arm and Anakin barely held back the shiver that ran through him. “I know you don’t want to think about it but-” 

Anakin rested his flesh hand over her soft warm one. “Can we talk about this later? There are young ears here.” 

“Here you are, sir.” The girl behind the counter held out their cups of ice cream. 

Anakin picked up them one at a time, handing the pink ones to his angels and the orange one to Luke. He held the last green one and headed to a table in the corner. He sat down with Luke on his knee and began to eat with one hand. 

Luke took one bite of his orange sherbet and made a face. 

Anakin laughed. “Not to your liking? Here. Try mine.” Anakin offered him a bite of his minty ice cream. 

Luke quickly took the bite and hummed. “I like it, Daddy.” 

Anakin’s heart gave a jump every time he heard Luke call him daddy. Anakin happily traded his food for Luke’s melting orange frozen treat. 

“What did you girls talk about on the way here?” Anakin asked if only to hear Padme’s voice again. 

Padme let loose a laugh. “Leia is quite the little girl. She told me about all your… admirers and asked me to do her hair. Apparently, someone doesn’t know how to do it right.” 

“I try. I’m not the best at it.” Anakin frowned. That was not what he was looking for. 

“I know Ani. I’m sorry. That came out a little mean.” Padme apologized to him by reaching her hand out. 

Anakin caught it before she could pull it away. He set Luke down in the chair next to him with his free hand. “Padme, I don’t want to think about you leaving again. Can we just enjoy the time we have now? We can head back to my apartment. It’s not much but I can take the couch and Luke can bunk in Leia’s room or you both can take my bed or-” 

“Ani.” 

Anakin’s mind paused when Padme leaned forward and squeezed his bare hand. “We’ll work things out when we actually talk about things.” 

His mind kicked back into gear when she sent him a pointed look that Anakin tried to ignore. 

Anakin focused on getting to know the son he thought he lost. He had a lot to make up for. To the both of them. 

*****

Padme sighed as Anakin tried to get away with them not talking. She was very unsure about things. Anakin had been gone for five years and all of a sudden he was pushing his way back into their lives as if he had never left. 

It made Padme a little bit angry. She was already angry at her parents for tricking her. She could never be that fully angry at Anakin but he was pushing it right now. 

She didn’t even know if she would stay the rest of their vacation with him at his apartment like he wanted. This was supposed to be about Luke and her. 

Don’t get her wrong. She was thrilled to find out that Leia, her precious daughter, was alive. Leia was sassy and a little bit devious. She seemed like an energetic handful and a half. 

Already she could just see the mischief that Leia had undoubtedly caused over the years. Cutting an adult’s hair because they were hitting on her dad was a bit extreme and maybe just the tip of the iceberg. 

Padme couldn’t help but love the little four-year-old. But her father on the other hand… 

Padme listened back into the excited chatter when Luke spoke with so much happiness that his face seemed like it was going to crack in half with the force of his smile. 

“Mama! Daddy said that he was going to teach me how to fix things. He said he had a big project he needed help on and that I could help him!” Luke waved his hands as he spoke. 

Padme wanted so badly to say what was on her mind. That they were not going to go to Anakin’s and Leia’s home. But the smile on her son’s face was the biggest she had ever seen in his entire life. She couldn’t make his little face fall. 

Padme looked over and saw the same matching grin on Leia’s face and the quiet hopeful awe that appeared every time the little girl so much as glanced in her direction. 

No. She couldn’t take it that far. She would go if only for the sake of her babies but she was not staying at Anakin’s home. Maybe a hotel in the town or even his mother’s place. She would take anything over being in close quarters with the man who broke her heart, unintentionally or not. 

Leia and Luke were finished with the ice cream. Messy fingers and faces were wiped with care by Anakin. 

Padme could not deny the love that Anakin had for Leia and Luke. It showed in everything he did. Anakin shot her a look before taking care of Luke. 

Padme tried not to read into it because it truly scared her. She failed. Anakin’s look of complete desperate wonder was hard to miss. He looked at her like he still couldn’t believe she was real and right in front of him. 

“Luke, Sweetheart, can you and Leia go play over there at the play area. I need to talk to…” Padme shot a quick glance at Anakin. “Your father.” 

“Sure Mama.” Luke grabbed Leia’s hand and pulled her away from the table. 

Padme shot a fierce glare at Anakin. “This was meant to be Luke and I’s vacation.” Padme noticed Anakin’s face fall into the non-readable mask that always occurred around his friends. She hated that face. Padme pushed out a sigh and tried to force the angry feelings away from her. 

“But, I cannot hurt Leia like that. We will come to your town for four days. It took us five days to get here and I told my assistant that we would be gone for only two weeks. By Wednesday we have to go back. We will be coming but we will not be staying with you two. We will stay at a hotel.” 

“You could always fly back. There’s an airport in Phoenix and it will only take four hours to fly to Charlotte. You do still live outside of Charlotte, right?” Anakin protested calmly. 

Padme gave a reluctant nod. “Yes. Luke and I do live near Charlotte. But-” 

“Leia and I can drive your car back to North Carolina and by then you could be almost ready to-” 

“Anakin!” Padme spoke a little too loudly. 

People sitting near them looked over but at Padme’s stern look they turned back to their food. 

Padme lowered her voice. “You cannot just come back into my life as if you never left. Things are different now. We are not the same college kids we once were. I have been parenting Luke alone for five years. Five years of taking care of him by myself. I get that you are hurt by what my parents did. I am furious, too. But we grew up, Ani. We’ve changed. We had to for the sake of them.” Padme shot a wistful look at the twins talking animatedly off to the side of the play area. 

“And it is for them that I will try. I will try to let all my hurt go. Hurt that my parents caused, hurt at the fact that they took away my chance to see my baby girl grow up into an amazing little child.” Padme shoved aside her thoughts and tried to read Anakin. 

Anakin looked angry. His brow was furrowed and his eyes were cold blue ice chips in a darkly scowling face. “Don’t you think I feel the same?” He almost hissed out. “I’ve been living with the fact that I not only lost Luke, but I lost you too. I’ve tried so hard to raise that little girl like you wanted me to. I’ve tried living up to your expectations for five years. Five years I’ve done it alone. I’m not an idiot. I know we have changed. I know that things are different. But you cannot take him from me.” 

Anakin’s face crumbled into a look of misery so intense that it took Padme’s breath away. 

“Ani I’m-” 

“I’ve lost so much. Please, don’t do this. Give us some amount of time to at least try.” 

Padme felt terrible. She let her emotions cloud her to what was going on with Anakin. “Four days. I can give you four days. After that, we will have to see what will happen.” Padme stood up as Luke and Leia ran back over to them. 

“Mama? Are we really going to go to Leia and Daddy’s home?” Luke’s blue eyes pleaded with her. 

“Yes. In fact, we should probably leave soon if we want to get our things.” Padme stood up and gathered their trash from their ice cream. 

A soft touch to her hand made her look up at the blue-eyed man.    
  
“Thank you.” Anakin shot her a look of gratefulness. 

Padme felt that terrible feeling well up in her. She had been unfair on Anakin, she knew she had been. “I’m sorry for saying those things. You deserve more than what I have given you.” 

“We’ll talk later. You’ll follow me home?” Anakin waited for her to nod before grabbing Leia’s hand and leading her to the door. 

Padme followed him with Luke. She was uncertain about the future but she couldn’t deny the thrill she felt seeing Anakin again. And that was truly dangerous. 

****

Leia was worried. Her daddy was talking to her mama but her mama didn’t seem happy. Leia wondered what was going wrong. 

They should be one big family now. Luke was supposed to live with them. Leia was more than happy to share her room with her new brother.

But where would her mama sleep? Maybe she would sleep on the couch like Uncle Obi did when he stayed over. But that wouldn’t be for a long time. 

Uncle Obi always said that ‘Anakin, your couch is the most uncomfortable thing I have ever slept on. Tooka’s bed would be better than this piece of…’ 

Uncle Obi would always stop talking if Leia was in the room and then change the subject to breakfast or something else. 

Leia was put into her car seat. She pouted as she was buckled in. “Why can’t Luke ride with us, Daddy? There is plenty of room for Luke and Mama to ride with us.” 

“If Luke and Padme ride with us, then who is going to drive their car home?” 

Leia thought about her dad’s question. “Uncle Obi. Call Uncle Obi.” 

“Then who would drive Uncle Obi’s car back home?” 

Leia tried not to like the happy smile on her Daddy’s face. This was what she wanted but she just knew he was laughing at her. 

Leia crossed her arms and sent a glare at the seat in front of her. 

“Leia, we will be home in two hours and you can see Luke again. I promise they will be right behind us the whole way.” Leia’s daddy stared at her. He brushed a piece of hair that came out of her buns behind her ear. “Little Angel? I swear that I will never let them go unless they want to leave. Even then Luke will still be a part of our lives.” 

Leia believed the words her daddy spoke. Something about his tone made her think that her daddy was serious. 

Leia smiled at her daddy. “Thank you, Daddy. I love you.” Leia leaned forward and kissed his cheek as he buckled the strap that went across her chest. 

“I love you too, Little Angel.” Her daddy kissed her forehead before shutting her door. 

Leia uncrossed her arms and sighed. 

_ Luke?  _

Leia got a wave of boredom and not anger from Luke. 

_ What’s wrong Luke?  _ She tried again to talk to him. 

_ I hate riding in the car. I wish I was riding with you. It would be more fun.  _

_ We can talk the whole way and I can point out when we are almost there. There is this big rock right outside of town. Daddy always sighs when he sees it. I asked him once why he did that and he said it brought him good memories. Maybe when we pass it and wish really hard, it will bring us good memories too.  _

Leia felt Luke’s happiness at the suggestion. She beamed at the good feeling. 

_ Leia? Can you tell me about your grandmother?  _

Leia frowned at the unfamiliar word.  _ Well, she’s not called grandmother. She told me to call her Grandma or Grandma Shmi. She is really fun. She takes me out to the park when Daddy is too busy. She lets me play while she reads a book under a tree. She makes the best lemonade. It’s very sweet. She will even let me help her in her garden.  _

Leia felt confused at Luke’s shock.  _ What’s wrong?  _

_ She plays with you out in her yard? And makes you lemonade that is sweet?  _

Leia didn’t know why Luke was saying what she just said.  _ Yes? That is what I said. Are you okay Luke?  _

_ I hope I can meet her.  _

Luke flipped between being well… not annoyed exactly but more like shocked?... to quiet worry in a few seconds. 

Leia blinked at the strength of them. They felt like they were her own. 

All of a sudden Leia felt awed at the fact that Grandma Shmi lets her play in the yard with her and that her Grandma made her lemonade with lots of sugar instead of the bitter fresh stuff that  _ she  _ has her chef make. 

_ Luke? Are you sure you are-  _

“All set Leia? We are going to follow Luke and your mother while they go and settle things at their hotel and then they are going to follow us h-home.” 

Leia was very confused and she didn’t like it. Her daddy was acting weird. 

“I need to call Obi.” 

Her daddy searched his pockets for his phone. 

Leia thought that was weird because Daddy always put his phone in the cupholder while they were in the car. 

“Where is it? I know it’s here somewhere. Don’t tell me I left it back inside the ice cream shop.” He muttered. 

“Daddy? It’s in the cupholder.” Leia waved to catch her dad’s eyes. 

“Oh. Thanks, Little Angel.” Her daddy picked it up and began messing with it. 

Soon, the noise of a ringing phone echoed in the car. 

“Hello? Anakin? Is everything alright? Don’t worry about the shop. Rex and I have everything under-” Leia heard Uncle Obi answer. 

“Padme and Luke are alive.” 

Leia flinched. Her daddy was really loud. 

There was silence on the other end. “Anakin? Are you-?” 

“I met them here at the Grand Canyon. Well, you know Leia’s imaginary friend Luke? It turns out that it was her twin the whole time and they decided to set me up with his mother who is Padme and now they are coming here and I am excited but also wondering if the house is clean and if I put away the laundry and-” 

“Anakin! Breathe.” Uncle Obi ordered. 

Leia watched as her daddy waved out the window. He then began driving back the way they had come to get there. 

“Tell me again, please? Padme is alive? How?” 

Leia watched as the sandy desert rolled by the window. Her daddy told Uncle Obi all that happened but Leia didn’t listen. 

Luke was bored. Leia felt it too so she was doubly bored. The car drove on and Leia began to feel sleepy. She didn’t know if it was Luke’s or her feelings but Leia slowly drifted to sleep. 

The jerking of the car woke her up an hour later. 

Leia blinked awake to see her dad was off the phone and kept looking in the mirror back at her a lot. 

“Daddy?” Leia yawned. She placed her hand over her mouth while she did it. “Are we almost there?” 

“Yes, Leia. We have about five minutes before we reach our town.” Leia’s daddy looked back at her again. 

Leia saw the huge rock out the window. She poked at Luke and then closed her eyes. 

_ Please can we be a family? Please can you give us good memories like you did Daddy? Please can Mama and Luke not leave us again. I don’t want Daddy to be sad again.  _

Leia made her wish. She felt Luke doing the same. She only caught the tail end of his wish.  __

_ And please let Grandma like me and not be like my other grandmother.  _

Leia frowned.  _ Grandma will love you, Luke. She loves me and Daddy and I think she likes ‘Soka. I’ve told her about her and I think she likes her. She will love you. _

Leia spoke to Luke and let him feel her faith that Grandma would like him. She knew Grandma would. Grandma didn’t hate any kid. 

Luke sent her back worry and slight happiness. 

Leia sighed.  _ You are being silly Luke. Grandma will love you, I swear she will. _

“Leia? We’re home.” 

Leia knew her daddy was upset about something. That or he had to go to the bathroom really bad. Leia only got that jumpy when she had to go pee and her daddy was taking too long to help her to the bathroom. 

“Daddy? Do you need the bathroom?” Leia asked as she was lifted from the truck and placed on the ground. 

“What?” 

Leia giggled as her daddy’s voice went really high. “Daddy, do you need the bathroom?” 

“Who needs the bathroom?” 

Leia squealed and ran for her Mama to hug her. “Daddy does. He’s jumping around and keeps messing with his hands. I only do that when I need to go.” 

Leia closed her eyes and hummed as her mama ran her hand over her head. 

It was nice, having a mama. Leia couldn’t wait to do things that other kids told her about. Like getting their nails done and doing their hair together and baking cookies and singing her to sleep and…

“Leia? Do you want to show Luke your room? I need to talk with your Mama.” Daddy called. 

Leia opened her eyes and looked over at Luke. She shot a look back at her daddy to see him looking like Uncle Obi did when Leia ‘accidentally’ left her toys in the hall and he walked right into them. 

Uncle Obi was asking for it though. He had made her daddy cry a few weeks ago. 

“Leia?” Her daddy called again. 

Leia took Luke’s hand. “Come on. We can play with Mrs. Snuffles, Larry, and Lucy. I also have a small table that Uncle Obi got for me. It’s just our size!” 

Leia pulled Luke into her room. As soon as Leia shut the door she quickly opened it again. 

“Leia? What are you-” 

“Shhh.” Leia placed her hand over Luke’s mouth.  _ Talk this way. We are going to listen to them. Daddy was mad and I want to know why.  _

_ Maybe he’s mad that you are going to listen to them.  _

_ Shhh.  _

Luke gave a deep sigh and crouched beside Leia. 

Leia smirked. She had a feeling that sigh would be something he did over and over as they grew up. 

She would eventually be right. 


	6. Chapter 6

Anakin clenched his hands together nervously as he led Padme into his home. It wasn’t exactly shabby but it wasn’t the five-star comforts she was used to either. 

“So this is it. This is home for the past four years.” Anakin waved to the areas of the apartment. “Kitchen is that way, bedrooms are through there, the bathroom is right here and the living room is all around us. Sorry, there is only one bathroom. It was just Leia and I and the one bathroom thing seemed like a good idea at the time.” 

“Anakin? It’s fine.” Padme sat down on the couch. “I think we talked about all we need to.” Something caught her eye and she smiled. “ Are you sure that putting that right there is a good idea?” Padme stood up and moved towards the bookshelf in question. 

Anakin studied it with confusion. The bookshelf stuck out a little into the hallway. He ran into it multiple times on his way to the kitchen to get a drink in the middle of the night. “Maybe? I’ve bumped into it a lot of…” 

Anakin’s words caught in his throat as Padme moved quickly around the end and caught something in both arms. 

He heard a childish shout and a giggle. 

Padme came back around and showed off a disgruntled Leia and a laughing Luke. 

“Okay. Maybe the bookshelf needs to be moved.” He conceded to Padme’s point. 

Leia crossed her arms and glared at nothing. 

“Leia? How often have you been hiding there?” Anakin was worried. If she had been hiding there a lot then she knew more than what he was comfortable with his four-year-old knowing. 

“Not a whole lot. Only when Uncle Obi is here and I want to hear what you are talking about.” Leia wiggled until Padme set her on the floor. 

“Uncle Obi? As in Obi Kenobi?” Padme sounded worried. “Ani? Please don’t tell me you are still with them. After what they did to-” 

“I’m not. Obi left shortly after I did.” Anakin crossed his arms and clenched his hands down tight on his elbows at the memories. “It wasn’t easy, but they let me go with Leia. It was ‘against their code’ to have kids. Obi came and found me about a month after I settled here. He said it wasn’t the same without me and he opened up a practice here. Obi is now a family lawyer for this little town in Arizona. I’ve told him multiple times that he could do better and have a bigger pay and a bigger client list but he always tells me that-” 

“Why would I need a bigger client list or a bigger pay when I am happy here with my niece and nephew it seems like.” 

Anakin jumped as Obi’s voice took over what he was going to say. He turned and faced the door to see his best friend standing in the front walkway. 

“Hello, Padme. It seems your death was greatly exaggerated. Would you care to fill me in?” 

“Uncle Obi!” Leia ran straight for him. 

Anakin would never understand why Leia insisted on calling Obi ‘Uncle’. 

“Hello, Leia. I hear you have quite the story to tell me.” Obi caught the four-year-old and lifted her onto his hip. “Oh, Anakin, the shop is locked up and taken care of. Rex managed to fix quite a few things. There are five projects that he couldn’t fix and left them for you.” Obi shuffled Leia so she was resting comfortably on him. “Hello, Luke.” 

“Luke! This is Uncle Obi. I was telling you about him. He’s daddy’s brother. When he watches me we play horse. He lets me ride on his back.” Leia squirmed and Obi set her down. Leia ran over to Luke and grabbed his hand. She dragged him forward. “Uncle Obi, this is Luke. He’s my best friend but also my brother. We have the same birthday.” 

Anakin watched fondly as his outgoing daughter introduced his son to his best friend. 

Anakin studied Luke and corrected his earlier assumption quickly. Luke was way more like Padme in temperament than Leia ever was. He was almost shy and preferred to make his observations in silence. He took his time speaking and was very unsure about himself and others around him. 

Something Leia said registered within his mind and he quickly frowned. “Leia? Obi is not my brother.” 

Leia huffed a breath. “Yes, he is. I heard you call him your brother. Just like Uncle Owen, ‘cept Uncle Obi’s better. Luke, let’s go play. Larry wants to meet Lucy.” Leia waited impatiently by the bookcase. 

Anakin shook his head. His daughter was a hellion and he was sorry for everything he did to his mother in his youth. 

Luke stood there between the adults. He looked up at his mother then over at him and Obi. “Mama?” He whispered. He pulled on her pant leg. 

“It’s okay, Sweetheart. Go play with your sister. I’ll call you when dinner is ready.” Padme brushed a hand through Luke’s dark blonde hair. 

“Okay, Mama.” Luke walked slowly after Leia. 

“He doesn't act like me much, does he?” Anakin stared at the boy as he moved away. 

“Not much, but I think my parents had something to do with that. I should have known what they did.” Padme sighed with frustration. 

“What did they do? I was under the impression that you died five years ago along with Luke.” Obi sat down when Padme waved at the couch. 

Anakin headed for the kitchen. “Anyone want a drink? I think I have some grownup drinks here.” 

“No. I’m good.” Obi tried to refuse. 

Anakin stuck his head out the door to the kitchen and stared pointedly at him. “Trust me, Obi. You are going to need a drink.” 

Obi sucked in a breath. “That bad, huh?” 

“Oh yeah.” Anakin went back into the kitchen. He still couldn’t believe this, but it  _ was _ real. Padme was alive and Luke was alive. It was everything he ever wanted. He hoped that this wasn’t a dream. “Please don’t be a dream.” 

****

Padme was trying to hide her unease. She was currently trying to make dinner in her old lover’s apartment with her two kids playing down the hall. Obi had left with a promise to meet up later to ‘catch up’.

Padme wasn’t stupid. She heard the subtle threat in that comment. She decided to push it aside like she did everything since this afternoon.

Anakin always wasn’t much of a cook so he had what she had been expecting. Boxed macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, sandwich fixings, and instant ramen noodles. That was what mainly filled his shelves. Oh, and ice cream in the freezer. 

Padme shut a cabinet door and sighed. “Ani!” She called through the small home. 

And it was a home. There were some of Leia’s drawings on the fridge and there were pictures of her growing up on the wall. There were also pictures of Shmi and his stepfamily there too. Some with Obi and one picture in front of a small shop with a blond teenage boy with Obi and Anakin. 

“Yes, Angel?” Anakin came out of a door near the middle of the hall. 

“We need to go shopping.” Padme hesitated at her next request. Leia was technically his daughter that he had raised since infancy. Padme felt like she was intruding when she looked after Leia on her own. 

“What is it, Padme?” Anakin held something in his hands that he fiddled with constantly. 

“Can I take Leia and go to the store down the road?” Padme was trained since practically birth to not show her nerves and to be impeccable at all times. So when she found herself biting her lip she immediately stopped. 

Anakin smiled at her and the amount of fondness on his face made Padme want to hide. “You can take her and you don’t even have to ask. She is your daughter. I’ll keep Luke occupied.” 

“I feel like I’m intruding,” Padme admitted. “You are the one who took care of her for years while I was off doing other things.” 

Anakin frowned and spoke sharply. “Those ‘other things’ included raising our son. I feel like an outsider too. We’ll work it out Padme, we always have before.” His tone had gentled while he spoke until it was so soft it almost sounded hesitant. 

“Right.” Padme took a deep breath. “This is Leia’s room?” Padme waved towards the door the furthest down the hallway. 

“Yeah.” Anakin looked back down at the tool in his hands. “Can you send Luke my way? I promised to teach him a few things.” Anakin sent her an impish grin. “I promise to not let anything blow up and maim him too badly.” 

Padme gasped and slapped Anakin’s arm without thinking. “You wouldn’t dare!” 

Anakin let out a laugh. “I solemnly swear that I will not in any way maim our son. I will look after him until I die. Maybe even after then, depending on what the afterlife is like.” 

Padme smiled at the familiar sound of Anakin’s chuckles. “And I solemnly swear to take care of our daughter until I…” Padme paused. She was unsure how to end that sentence without bringing up bad memories for Anakin. 

Anakin’s smile fell. There was an awkward silence between the two before Anakin cleared his throat. “Right? Dinner? Can you please make some of your famous latkes? I think Leia will like them.”

“Maybe for breakfast. You and Leia can’t live off boxed macaroni and cheese forever. That stuff is basically cardboard covered in fake cheese. I think I can…” Padme trailed off as her mind whirled over things she could make and freeze for them after she and Luke left. “Right. Store.” 

Padme gently knocked on Leia’s door. It was decorated with colored pictures and handmade signs. “Leia? Can I come in?” 

“Sure Mama.” Leia opened her door. “I was just playing with Luke, Lucy, and Larry. We wanted to…” Leia paused. “Would you like to have a tea party with us, Mama?” 

Padme placed a finger on her chin in mock thought. “If we are going to have a tea party then we need to go to the store. Your daddy doesn’t even own a single box of tea anywhere. Would you like to come with me, Leia?” 

Leia brightened. “Okay. Let me grab my shoes and I’ll meet you at the front door.” 

Padme crouched down to meet Luke’s eyes as Leia ran out of her room. “How are you doing, little space pilot?” She kept her tone gentle to not spook Luke into clamming up. 

Luke’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m so happy, Mama.” Luke leaned into her and flung his arms around her neck. Padme stood up with Luke wrapped around her. He crossed his legs around her middle and his ankles were at the small of her back. 

“It’s okay, Baby. I’ve got you.” Padme murmured soft words to him as he cried. Padme felt it when his happy tears turned sad. “What’s wrong?” 

“Why did he leave us?” Luke sniffled. “If he loves us, why did he leave?” 

“Oh, Sweetheart, your grandparents forced him to leave. He loves you very much.” Padme rubbed a soothing hand down Luke’s back. “You wanna know something?” 

“What, Mama?” Luke pulled back and rubbed his eyes with his fists. 

“You can talk to your daddy about anything you want. I’m going to run to the store with Leia and your daddy wanted to teach you some things about his job. Can you do that? I’m only going to be gone for half an hour at the most. You can learn whatever he’s going to teach you and you can show me at dinner?” 

Padme winced when Luke’s grip got tighter. 

“No. Don’t go.” Luke buried his face in her neck and his hands grabbed the hair at the bottom of her head. 

Padme turned around and met the saddened blue-eyed gaze of Anakin. She sent him an apologetic look. 

Anakin waved her off. “It’s fine. You can take both of them. I have this laptop to finish and then I can set up some smaller things for us later.” 

Padme helped Luke put on his shoes and held out her hand to Leia. “Come on, Sweetheart. Let’s go get some food. I don’t know how you two survived with what your father can make.” 

“We ate out a lot,” Leia spoke so soberly that Padme had to laugh. 

“I bet you did.” 

****

Leia was confused. Why was Luke sad? Daddy was amazing. Why didn’t he want to stay with him? 

Leia’s car seat was placed in her mama’s car and Leia was soon buckled in right next to Luke. 

_ Luke? Why are you crying? I thought you would be happy.  _ Leia poked Luke in the side with her finger. 

“Don’t poke me, Leia!” Luke poked her back a lot harder than she did him. 

“Ow! Luke! That hurt!” Leia scowled. She was only trying to help.

“Luke. Leia. Knock it off you two. We don’t hurt each other.” Leia’s mama sent them a stern look in the mirror. 

Leia sighed and stared out the window as the town went by. “Here, Mama.” Leia pointed to the store her daddy always went to. 

“Thank you, Princess.” 

Leia felt happiness well up. Her mama gave her a special name like Daddy did. 

Leia noticed Luke’s look of sadness he sent at her.  _ What’s wrong Luke? Please. I only want to help. _

Luke reached out for her hand and Leia gave it to him. 

Leia got dizzy from the pictures he sent her. 

The sound of something breaking when he ran through a house. A faint echo of panic followed by a sharp scolding. Lessons on how to act at all times. No exceptions. Strict grandparents and cousins that didn’t like him. Cousins that were older and knew all this stuff but didn’t help him. Sadness on how she got to be herself with her daddy and how he let her do all these things that Luke never could. 

Leia sniffed and flung her arms around Luke as best as she could.  _ Don’t worry. From now on you can be yourself around Daddy and me. I love you, Luke. You’re my best friend and no one is going to yell at you here. If they do they have to answer to me and I once cut the hair off my daycare teacher. I can think of worse things.  _

“Luke? Leia? We’re here.” Leia’s mama unbuckled the two and helped them out of the car. “I want you both to either hold my hand or stay by the cart at all times. Okay? I don’t want either of you to get lost.” 

“Yes, Mama.” Luke and Leia spoke at the same time. 

Leia locked eyes with Luke. She was excited about this new game. Luke just gave her a small smile in return. 

Leia held her mama’s hand and she was led into the store. Leia grinned with a mean satisfaction at the shocked look the lady that always was nice to her daddy was giving her. 

“Hi. Welcome to Hal’s Grocery. Can I help you with anything?” The lady stepped right where Leia’s mama was walking. 

Leia scowled and stepped up next to the mean lady. “Hi. This is my mama. Mama, this is the lady I was telling you about.” Leia wanted to say something mean but she couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t get her in trouble for her saying a bad word. 

“Mama? You know Anakin?” The mean lady’s really pink mouth dropped open. 

“Yes. Come on, Luke, Leia. We need to get food for dinner.” 

Leia grinned as her mama just walked past the woman without another word. “That was cool!” 

Leia’s mama had a small smile on her mouth. “Sometimes, Leia, politely dismissing what someone says works better than saying something mean. Now, what do you two want for dinner?” 

“Hot dogs!” Leia called out. 

“Splegetti?” Luke twisted his free hand in his shirt. 

“Wait? Do you make splegetti? Is it any good? Daddy tried once and he set off these really loud alarms. It hurt my ears.” Leia stared at her mama. She didn’t want to miss a single thing about her. 

“Spaghetti, Luke, and yes. I can make a really good sauce for it. Do you want spaghetti for dinner?” Leia’s mama met Leia’s eyes. 

  
Leia nodded. “Yes, Mama. I would love to try your splegetti.” 

“Okay. Then we need fresh bread, some ground hamburger, and…” Leia’s mama trailed off as she walked through the store. 

Leia walked past places she had never really been. They walked all the way to the back to pick up a paper bag of bread. (It smelled  _ really _ good and the bag crinkled.) They went to a smelly part of the store and Leia’s mama picked up something pink and gross looking. 

“Yuck. That stinks.” Leia’s face scrunched up in disgust. 

“It will smell better when it’s cooked. Now, tomato sauce and some vegetables.” 

Leia’s mama led them back around through some aisles and towards a place where there were lots of green and yellow and red veggies placed all around in huge piles. 

Leia’s feet were starting to hurt. She had been walking with her back straight and tried to do the same thing as her mama. Her walk was a lot smoother than Leia’s daddy. It was more pretty than anyone Leia had ever met. 

Without Leia saying anything about how much she was hurting, Leia’s mama picked her up and placed her in the cart with all the food. Luke was placed next to her really fast. 

“A few more things and then we can go back to your house.” Leia’s mama promised. 

Leia watched as the cart began to get too full. A bag of potatoes was placed next to Leia’s feet. A tub of butter, milk, cheese, a tub of something that said sour cream, some cans of food, applesauce, the list went on. 

Leia’s eyes were wide. Daddy never bought this much stuff. He always complained about money and something called a ‘budget’ when they went shopping. 

Leia spied something she always wanted but Daddy rarely got her. “Mama?” Leia called out softly. 

“Yes, Sweetheart?” Leia’s Mama turned to face her and brown eyes met brown eyes. 

“C-can we get something special for dessert? It’s been a really good day and Daddy says that when we have something special happen we need to celebrate and we found you and Luke and that’s something really special and-” Leia tried to talk her mama into getting what she wanted. She dropped her gaze and played with the hem of her shirt. 

“What would you like, Leia?” 

Leia met the eyes of her mother and looked over at the apple pie sitting in a container. Leia’s mama followed her gaze and smiled. 

It looked a little bit sad and Leia wanted so badly to hug her. Leia stood up in the cart. She almost fell over but Luke put his hand on her side at the same time that Leia’s mama stopped the cart. 

“Leia, what are you-” 

Leia wrapped her arms loosely around her mama’s neck. This was only the third time she had been in her arms and Leia hoped that it would never end. That she would always be welcome to get a hug from her mama whenever she wanted. 

Leia squeezed her once and then pulled back. “You looked sad. Daddy said I give awesome hugs and that he always feels better after I give him a hug. So I gave you a hug.” Leia trailed off at the look on her mama’s face. 

Leia frowned. She was crying! Leia gasped. She felt awful. “I’m sorry Mama!” Leia felt choked. “Please don’t cry. I won’t hug you, I-” 

Leia was pulled into a tight hug. A smell like the cookies she and Grandma Shmi used to make filled her nose. Cimmanon. That’s what she thought Grandma called it. 

“It’s alright, Princess. You can hug me anytime. I just got lost in some memories, that’s all. Now, do you like apple pie?” 

Leia nodded. “Yeah. Daddy only buys it for my birthday or his birthday or really special days.” 

Leia was picked up and placed on her mama’s hip. She was led over to the counter. “What pie should we get?” 

Leia felt a smile stretch across her lips. She studied the pies before her looking for the best one. 

****

Luke watched from the cart as Leia and his mama looked at the pies on the shelf. He wondered if he should have stayed with his daddy after all. They could have been working on something awesome right now. 

Instead Luke was sitting in a cart that hurt his butt every time he moved. Leia was taking up all his mama’s attention. 

Luke didn’t mind that. Leia was his best friend and she should be happy at being with their mama. 

Luke’s problem was what was his cousins going to do about this. 

They always were mean to him at his daycare. Two of them were old enough for a big kid school while the one that was closest to him was placed in daycare with him. 

Luke  _ hated _ daycare. Everyone was mean to him. They called him names. They wouldn’t play with him and Luke spent most of his time in a corner playing with Lucy or sometimes talking to Leia. 

Now, Luke was with his daddy who let Leia decorate her door and let her do things that Luke wasn’t allowed to do. Like run in the house or even cry in a store! 

Luke remembered what his grandmother always told him. ‘A Naberrie must always look their best. They never run and they never cry when they do something wrong.’ 

Luke wasn’t saying that Leia did something wrong. No, she was fine and a good friend. His best friend. 

Luke was just scared about what was going to happen next. He didn’t want to go back to  _ that _ place. 

Not where Grandmother and Grandfather always scolded him, where kids were mean to him, where he couldn’t really be himself. 

He wanted to stay here in Arizona. Even if it was hot and he didn’t know if Grandma Shmi would like him and if he had to be in another daycare. 

‘Soka sounded really cool and maybe she could watch him until he was old enough to start a big kid school. Maybe… 

“Luke!” Leia was placed back in the cart next to him with a pie held in her arms. “What do you think?” Leia thrust the pie towards him carefully. 

Luke felt a smile come to his face. Leia was so happy it was hard being sad around her. “It looks yummy.” 

He felt a cautious poke in his mind. Luke sent her his happiness at being here with her. 

He would be fine. He would just have to make his mama see that they needed to be here. 

_ Are you okay Luke? You are being kind of quiet.  _

Leia’s concern made Luke feel warm. 

_ ‘I’m just wondering how we can get Mama to stay here. All the way here she was talking on the phone to Aunt Sabe. Aunt Sabe is Mama’s Right-hand Woman. Or so Mama says. I don’t know what that means, but Aunt Sabe always laughs and I think it’s a good thing.  _

_ Aunt Sabe was asking when we were going to be back. Mama said that we would be leaving in four days to drive back.  _

_ I don’t want to leave.’ _

Leia seemed to be thinking hard on something. She shifted the pie in her lap.  _ Daddy said that you would always be a part of our lives. He said he would make sure of it. Don’t worry Luke. Daddy won’t let you leave here without us. If you are going then we are coming too.  _

_ Really? He really did?  _

Leia pushed the memory from this afternoon at him. 

Luke watched as his daddy promised that he would always be in their lives. Luke wanted to cry in happiness but Grandmother Naberrie’s words came back to him. 

_ Thanks, Leia. Now I know that at least part of the time I can see you.  _

Leia sent him love and so much happiness that Luke couldn’t breathe for a moment.  _ I’ll always be here for you Luke. You’re my brother. Daddy says Skywalkers’ always have each other’s backs.  _

_ I’m not a Skywalker. My last name is Naberrie.  _ Luke told her. 

Leia sent him exasperation.  _ You’re my brother. That makes you a Skywalker. Daddy is your daddy too so that makes you a Skywalker two times. When Grandma meets you and loves you that will make it three times that you are a Skywalker. Don’t worry Luke. You will stay here but just have fun right now. Daddy is awesome. You’ll love him. So is Grandma.  _

_ If you say so, Leia. _

_ I do. Now, what do you want to do when we get home?  _

Luke thought for a moment.  _ Can I put a picture on your door?  _

_ Sure. It’s your room too. I can share it with you. I’ll move some of my stuff so you can put whatever you want on our door.  _

Our door? Luke liked the sound of that a whole lot. 

_ Thanks, Leia.  _

_You're welcome, Luke_


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this is late. Happy Halloween. Have some fluff as a treat. I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I'm done writing it. Enjoy

Anakin was roused from his almost meditative working haze by the smell of something cooking. 

He set aside his tools and stretched his back and arms. He opened his bedroom door to a heartwarming sight. 

Leia was coloring on the floor in her books with Luke sprawled out next to her. They were passing crayons back and forth without speaking. Once in a while, Luke would let out a laugh.

Padme was in the kitchen singing while an old radio he kept in there played a tune. “Don’t expect me to cook every night, Ani. I’m not going to serve you all the time.” 

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Angel.” Anakin leaned down and hugged her with one arm. 

Padme stiffened and slid out of his grasp. She did it with her usual grace so he almost didn’t notice. 

Anakin frowned. They had a ton of things to talk about. “Anything I can do to help?” 

Padme let out a laugh. “Ani, I’ve seen you cook. I’d rather not be sick for the rest of my time here.” 

“I’ve gotten better.” Anakin protested her lack of faith in him. “I can make ramen and mac n’ cheese pretty good now. I can even boil a hot dog. What is for dinner?” 

“We are having spaghetti and you can butter the bread, then.” Padme pointed to a bag of french bread and a tub of butter sitting on the counter. 

Anakin grabbed one of his rarely used kitchen knives. Obi had gotten them for him as a gift when he saw ‘the most pathetic excuses of knives I have ever seen’ set he was using before. 

“Padme?” Anakin cut the bread in half as best as he could. 

“Yes, Ani?” Padme was stirring something on the stove that smelled awesome. 

“After the kids are in bed, can we talk?” Anakin noticed the surprised look on her face. “Or not. We can just call it an early night. I’ve had a long day. Leia woke me up at six in the morning. We can always talk tomorrow.” 

“Tomorrow is good.” Padme poured some dry noodles into a pot of boiling water. 

Anakin noted her reluctance to be around him. Anakin grit his teeth. If they were going to work things out, she would have to get used to him. Plus he really missed her and wanted her back in his life in whatever way she wanted. 

Dinner went smoothly and was probably one of the best meals Anakin had ever had in his life. 

Soon, they ushered off to bed two sleepy children. It was a miracle that they had lasted this long. Anakin knew Leia had been up even earlier than he had been and the short almost but not quite two-hour nap in the car was not enough sleep for her. 

Anakin pulled the covers up around Leia’s chin. Leia was in her bed. Luke was on an air mattress on the floor. Padme was with Luke. 

“Daddy?” Leia whispered. 

Anakin’s heart clenched in awe every time his little girl called him that precious name. “Yes, Little Angel?” Anakin brushed some hair away from Leia’s eyes. 

“Are you happy?” 

Leia’s innocent question made tears spring to his eyes. “I am very happy. Thank you so much for doing this for me.” 

Leia leaned up and kissed his cheek. “You’re welcome, Daddy. Good night. I love you.” 

“I love you too Little Angel.” Anakin leaned down and kissed Leia’s forehead. 

Anakin stood up from his kneeling position at the side of Leia’s bed. He looked over at Padme and saw her running her hand through Luke’s hair and humming softly. 

“Can you sing Mama?” Leia yawned partway through her words. 

Anakin leaned in the door frame as Padme closed her eyes and began singing out loud. It was your normal little lullaby tune for children but Padme put her own twist on it. 

Anakin listened to the soothing melody until both children’s eyes drooped and they were off to dreamland. 

Anakin held out a hand to help Padme up off the floor. “That was a pretty song.” He complimented. 

Anakin led her to his bedroom. “You can have the bed. I’ll sleep on the couch. I just need to grab a few things from my dresser.” 

Anakin fiddled with the finicky dresser drawers. 

“Anakin?” Padme’s voice sounded tired. “I am really happy to have found you again. I’m just scared and angry at my parents and hurt that they would even dream of doing this to me and my family. But mostly, I’m scared. I’m scared you are going to leave us again. I’m scared that I’ll fall right back into your arms and just forget everything I’ve done and…” 

Anakin stood in front of her and drew her into his arms. It felt amazing to hold her like this again but Anakin tamped down his wonder. “Padme, I swear on my life that I won’t let anyone or anything separate our family ever again. I’m never willingly leaving you. If you want to live in North Carolina, then Leia and I will pack up and move back there with you. I’ll sell my shop and think of something to do in North Carolina that I will like.” 

Anakin noticed Padme’s shoulders heaving. Anakin held her tighter as his angel wept tears of hurt and sorrow. 

“I’ve got you, Angel. I’m not going anywhere.” Anakin murmured to her until she began to sway. Anakin tightened his grip. He looked down to see Padme with her eyes closed and leaning against his chest. Her head was tucked into his shoulder. 

“Angel? Padme? Padme?” Anakin jostled her until she sleepily opened her wide brown eyes. “Come on, you need to get ready for bed.” 

Padme stood up and gathered some things from her suitcase. Anakin went back to the dresser and managed to pull out his pajama pants and (reluctantly) a T-shirt. 

“Do you need the bathroom first?” Anakin watched as Padme held her nightclothes to her middle. 

“I was going to shower so you can use it first. I’ll wait.” Padme sat on the edge of Anakin’s bed. 

Anakin smiled at her and left the room to the bathroom down the hall. He quickly got dressed in his clothes, tugging at the collar of the shirt. It was uncomfortable. He was not used to sleeping with a shirt on. 

Anakin made his bed on the couch. He laid down when the shower started up. He now knew why Obi always complained about his couch. It was near impossible to get comfortable on. The padding was okay when you sat down, but laying on it was awful. 

Anakin shifted a few times before settling against the cushions on his back. He felt drowsy and tried to stay awake until he was sure Padme was sleeping too. It failed. He was asleep before the shower was even turned off. 

******

Padme woke to an unfamiliar bedroom. She panicked for half a minute before remembering the events of yesterday. Padme fell back to the bed in relief. 

The bed smelled like Anakin. His soaps and natural scent with a hint of mechanical grease that he always seemed to cling to him. 

Padme thought about yesterday. She knew things were not totally worked out. Padme’s heart ached at the gentle way Anakin soothed her fears last night. His promise of never letting their family be separated again was almost too good to be true. 

Padme could sense the truth in his words, though. She had no doubt that if she wished it, Anakin and Leia would follow them to North Carolina like some romcom movie. Padme had a small flashback to watching The Parent Trap. Especially the ending. 

Padme stretched as she heard soft stirrings from the living room. She got up and quickly went about her morning routine. She opened the door, intent on getting to the bathroom to apply her makeup, brush her teeth, and do her hair with a mirror when she ran into a solid chest in front of her. 

Muscled arms caught her before she could hit the floor. “Are you okay? I swear I was about to knock.” 

“I’m fine.” Padme pulled away from Anakin and smiled. “You said you wanted some Latkes?” 

“If you don’t mind… I’m not the best cook.” Anakin gave her a sheepish smile. “Honestly, the only reason Leia and I aren’t overweight is that my mom and Obi try to give us a ‘healthy meal’ as much as they can. That and we go to the park a lot.” 

Padme brushed past Anakin. “Let me finish and then I’ll start on them. I bought the ingredients I needed last night.” 

“Oh, Angel? Obi is going to watch Luke and Leia for a couple of hours this afternoon. He is leaving tomorrow to go hang out with Satine at her family’s vacation home here and he claims he is already packed and can spare three hours to watch them.” 

“Anakin? Anakin, wait.” Padme knew it was rude but she interrupted his rambling. “Why is Obi going to watch the kids?” 

“Well, we have a date. Obi suggested it. I wanted to show you a few places around town and maybe take you out for a late lunch?” Anakin sounded unsure. 

Padme felt her heart slowly begin to melt. “Okay. Sounds fun. What time are we going out?” 

“One to three?” Anakin offered. 

Padme gave her agreement to the idea and headed for the bathroom. 

Padme was just finishing up cooking breakfast when two grumpy four-year-olds entered the kitchen. Well, one grumpy four-year-old. 

Luke was bright-eyed as he always was in the morning. Leia, on the other hand, was scowling and clutching an old-looking hairbrush and some ties in her fists. 

“Good morning, Mama.” Luke chirped. “What’s for breakfast?” 

Leia grumbled and thrust the brush in her direction. “Can you do my hair? Please?” 

The please sounded like it was tacked on the end like an afterthought. 

“How about after breakfast, I can do your hair, Leia?” Padme poked at the first fried potato cake in the skillet she was using to cook them. It was almost done. “Luke? Can you please go get your daddy for breakfast?” 

“Yes, Mama.” Luke hurried out of the room. 

Leia climbed up in a chair off to the side and watched her. 

Padme tried not to be self-conscious as she deftly flipped the first one out of the pan and set it on a paper towel covered plate. She scooped more batter into the pan with a popping sizzle. While the food was cooking, she got out some peanut butter, sour cream, applesauce, and cream cheese. 

The whole time Padme was working, she felt the wide-eyed gaze of Leia on her. 

“Which would you like Leia? Since Luke and Anakin are taking a while, you can have the first one.” Padme winced as soon as the words left her mouth. Presenting so many options to a four-year-old would not go well. 

“What do you like?” 

Leia’s seemingly innocent question startled Padme. She had no idea that Leia would want to be like her. She would need to sort that out soon.

Given the circumstances though, she really shouldn’t be that surprised. Leia had spent her whole life thinking she was gone. She would only have stories about her and that was if Anakin felt like sharing. Then Padme comes into her life and she must be near ecstatic and would want to be like her to make sure she stays and…

Padme shut down that thought. That was too much and too psychological this early in the morning. “Luke likes his with applesauce. Why don’t you try that first and if you don’t like it, we’ll try my way? Okay?” 

Padme spooned a small amount of applesauce on top of the latke and gave it to Leia. She checked on the one in the pan and carefully flipped it. “I’ll be right back. Do not touch the stove, okay, Sweetheart. It’s really hot.” 

Padme waited until she got a nod of agreement from Leia before hurrying from the room, wondering what her two boys were up to. 

Padme came to a stop in the living room. Luke was leaning over Anakin’s side as he showed the little boy his work on a burnt-out laptop. 

“And this is the circuit board. This is what makes the whole thing work. Every command you give it comes from here.” Anakin explained. 

“Why is it black in spots?” Luke reached out to trace a part of the board. 

“That’s what I’m trying to fix. Some of the wires got overheated and melted a little. It would be better to buy a whole new laptop but the guy is really attached to this one.” Anakin set the circuit board down when he caught sight of Padme. 

Padme stood with her hands on her hips and fondness all over her face. “If you two techies are done, breakfast is ready.” 

“Mama! I think it’s burning!” Leia called as smoke started pouring from the kitchen. 

Padme gasped and ran back to the kitchen. She had completely forgotten she had one on the stovetop. She was too caught up in watching the display that father and son had put on. 

Padme yanked the skillet off the burner and thrust it into the skin. She flipped on the water as smoke rolled from the pan. “Anakin! Get the kids out of here!” 

The smoke alarms went off and Leia screamed and clamped her hands over her ears. 

Windows were opened and fans were turned on. Luke and Leia were seated on the couch far away from the kitchen. Anakin was using a potholder to fan the air near the smoke detector. 

Padme stared with dismay at the ruined skillet. The latke was stuck to the bottom of the pan and there was no way it was coming off without a long soak and a ton of elbow grease. 

“Do you have another skillet?” Padme turned to face Anakin with a hopeful look on her face. 

Anakin shook his head. “Sorry. No. Not a cook. Remember?” 

Padme put the stopper in the sink and began letting some hot water flow into it. She poured a bit of soap onto the skillet and set it in the quickly filling basin. 

She sagged against the counter. “I’m sorry. I know you wanted some latkes this morning. I’ll clean the pan later.” 

“It’s okay, Angel. We can always go…” 

There was a knock on the door. Padme straightened up. “Who’s that?” 

Anakin shrugged. “I don’t know.” He headed for the door. “I’ll check.” 

Anakin opened the front door. The person on the other side made Padme fill with nerves. She had some explaining to do. 

****

Leia pouted. 

Breakfast was ruined. Leia really wanted another one of those potato things. She really loved fries and they tasted almost similar. 

Leia crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her daddy’s mess on the table. There were wires and tools and two computers that had been taken apart. Parts were everywhere. 

A knock on the front door had her looking up. Leia’s daddy answered the door. 

“Mom?” Her daddy sounded surprised. 

“Grandma!” Leia got down off the couch. She almost ignored Luke’s frozen shy form. 

Leia felt a wave of fear that stopped her in her tracks. 

_ What if she doesn’t like me? What if she hates me and acts like  _ **_them_ ** _?  _

Leia scoffed.  _ She’s gonna love you, Luke. Stop worrying. Now come on. I want a hug. _

Leia ran for the front door, dragging Luke by the hand behind her.    
  


“Grandma!” Leia called again. 

Luke’s hand was ripped from her grasp before she reached her grandma. Leia looked behind her to see Luke hiding behind their Mama. 

Leia shrugged. Luke would see eventually. She ran for the multicolored skirt and wrapped her arms around Grandma Shmi’s knees. “Hi, Grandma! You have to meet Luke! He’s kind of scared and shy but he’s awesome and he really wants you to like him.” 

Luke sent Leia his anger. 

Leia poked him back with annoyance. She stared at Luke and sent him her exasperation at his stubbornness. 

_ Come on Luke. She’s not like her. Please. For me? If she starts to treat you like her then I will defend you but that isn’t going to happen so come on.  _

Luke edged out from behind their Mama’s legs. “Hello.” Luke’s voice was quiet. 

“Hi. You must be Luke.” Grandma Shmi was nice to Luke. 

She knelt down on the floor in front of him. 

Luke ducked back behind their Mama. Leia saw their Mama run her hands through his hair. 

That brought to her mind that her hair was still not done. It hung down her back in tangled knots. 

“Mama? Since breakfast is ruined, can you do my hair now?” Leia pulled on her mama’s pant leg. 

“Breakfast is ruined?” Grandma Shmi was helped up from the floor by Leia’s Daddy. 

“Yes. I got distracted and a latke burned Anakin’s only skillet.” Leia’s Mama answer Grandma’s question calmly. 

Grandma was quiet for a moment. She studied Leia’s Mama. “You can have breakfast at my house. I do have more than one pan. I even have a griddle.” 

Leia was confused at her Grandma’s words. She didn’t know what a griddle was and why did she feel the need to say that she had more than one pan. Daddy had more than one pan. There was the mac n’ cheese pan and the hot dog pan. Daddy used the mac ‘n cheese pan for noodles too. That was two more pans. 

“Give us thirty minutes?” Leia’s mama looked over in Leia’s direction. “Actually make that forty.” 

“Mom? I thought you were on vacation with Cliegg until Wednesday.” Leia’s daddy sounded confused. 

“Obi called. He said that Padme and your son was alive. He told me that it was a long story that I might need a drink for. I decided to cut my vacation short and come home.” Grandma laid her hand on Leia’s daddy’s cheek. Grandma was crying as she spoke. “I am so happy for you. My little Ani. These past few years have been so hard for you. I had to see if it was true for myself. Cliegg understands. He’s the one who offered to come back.” 

“Thanks, Mom.” Leia’s daddy hugged Grandma. 

“Mama?” Luke’s voice was a little bit louder than what he used to say hi to Grandma. “I’m hungry.” 

“I’ll meet you at the house. Cliegg is out in the car. We drove all night to get here.” Grandma gave Leia a hug. She made a step towards Luke, who shifted back towards their Mama. “Bye. See you in forty minutes.” 

Grandma Shmi left their home. 

Leia blinked up at her parents. “I’m hungry too.” 

“Go get dressed and I’ll do your hair.” Leia’s mama sounded upset. “Oh, I need to pack up the batter and I’ll need to…” 

“Angel. It’s alright. I’ll help Leia and Luke get ready. You worry about the food.” Leia’s daddy led Leia down the hall to her room. 

Leia was worried about Luke and she was hungry. Luke’s hunger was spreading to her and her tummy growled. 

“Stop it, Luke!” Leia glared at her brother. “I’m already hungry.” 

Luke quickly looked at the ground and pulled back from Leia. Some of Leia’s hunger faded and she felt bad. 

_ I’m sorry Luke.  _ Leia apologized.  _ I didn’t mean it.  _ Leia reached out and sent him love and happiness and all the good things she knew how to feel. 

She felt Luke send her some love back. Leia kept sending him all her happy feelings as she got dressed, as her mama did her hair for the first time, and as they loaded up in Daddy’s truck and went off to Grandma Shmi’s house. 

******

Luke felt warm. Leia was sending him so much love and happiness that he felt near to bursting with it. It was almost as much happiness as he felt when he thought his heart was going to fall out of his chest. 

Luke felt a little braver as they rang Grandma’s doorbell. 

“Anakin. I’m so happy for you.” 

Luke froze as a tall man answered the door. He had hair on his face and it was grey. 

“Grandpa!” Leia ran right for the man. The man picked her up with a laugh and gave her a big hug. 

Leia squealed with laughter. Luke wished he could be like that. 

“Grandpa? You have to meet Luke.” Leia was set on the floor. 

Leia ran over to him.  _ Ready, Luke? I won’t let anyone hurt you. _

Luke felt braver by Leia’s love and faith that they would love him. “Hi. I’m Luke.” He introduced himself. 

“Hi, Luke. I’m Cliegg but you can call me Grandpa if you like?” 

Luke decided he liked this man. “Hi, Grandpa.” He tried out saying the new name. He decided he liked that too. 

“Come on, Leia, Luke. You guys can come with me.” Grandpa turned to Luke’s mama and daddy. “She wanted to talk to both of you. She’s in the kitchen.” 

Luke hesitated for half a minute. Leia sent him a burst of good feelings and he followed Leia deeper into the house. He sent one last look at his Mama before following his grandpa and sister. 

Luke found out that they were headed to a playroom. It had all kinds of toys and some of them were made from wood. They looked awesome. 

Leia headed to a play kitchen and began playing with all the fake food and small pans. 

Grandpa stood by Luke. “What do you like, Luke?” 

Luke spotted some wooden toys. He walked over to them and sorted through them to see what kind of toys Grandpa had. There were animals and people and dinosaurs and trains and boats but there were no space ships or planes. 

“Do you have any space ships? Like a plane but it can fly in space? I want to be a space pilot.” Luke explained more when Grandpa seemed interested. 

Grandpa asked a lot of questions about what kind of ship Luke wanted. Luke told him eagerly. 

“You seem to know just what you want.” Grandpa sounded like Luke had done something amazing. 

Luke looked at the floor. He shot a glance over at Leia who sent him a cheerful burst of excitement. Luke took a deep breath. “When you are riding in a car for five days you have a lot of time to think.” 

Grandpa froze for a moment before letting out a loud laugh. Luke jumped. Grandpa quieted down. He still laughed but it was softer now. 

“I know just what you went through. Do you want to hear of the time that your Grandma and I traveled for four days to see a moose and it turned out to be something completely different?” 

Luke nodded and sat down in a bean bag chair that was just the right size for him. Grandpa began his story. 

Luke laughed as Grandpa told a story after a story. Luke really liked Grandpa. He was funny and had a lot of good stories. He told some about Luke’s daddy when he was younger. He told stories about his own son Uncle Owen. He told stories about when he was Luke’s age. He even told stories about Leia when she was a baby. 

Leia came over halfway through the stories. She sat next to Luke and listened quietly. 

_ See Luke? I told you they were nicer than our other ones. Plus, Grandma likes you too. I know she does. _

_ Thanks, Leia.  _

_ For what?  _ Leia sounded confused. 

_ For everything. For helping me be braver. For not giving up on me. For being there.  _

_ I will always be here Luke. And you are brave. Grandpa likes you. You did that all on your own.  _

Luke eyed his Grandpa as he watched them. 

“I feel like your two have something special,” Grandpa told them. “Don’t ever let that fade. You two deserve all the happiness you guys can get. Don’t let petty things come between you.” 

Luke was confused by his words. 

Grandpa let out another soft laugh. “You’ll understand one day. Don’t worry.” Grandpa made a show of smelling the air. “Now, who wants breakfast. I think your Grandma might have some fresh orange juice in the fridge.” 

Leia jumped up and ran for the door. “Me! I’m starving!” 

Luke followed Leia as she ran through the house. He was running too and for the first time, he didn’t look around for someone to scold him. Grandpa was nice after all. Leia was with him. She would help him. Luke had both of his parents and he was happy. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this is late. I lost motivation for a while and then last night I fell asleep and dreamt about Dex's diner of all things and woke up this morning with the motivation I needed to keep at it. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> 11/18/2020
> 
> So... I have covid-19. I won't be able to write as much because I am so sick. I have it worse than everyone else in my family because of my other condition. (I have a condition where I need infusions of plasma every two weeks or I will get very sick and most likely die without it). I will try my best to keep up with this story. I haven't abandoned it. Hopefully I will feel better soon. Thanks.

Padme was stalling. She moved around Anakin’s kitchen as her two children tried to play with Obi’s cat. 

The old feline was unimpressed at the kids’ enticements and laid out of reach on top of a bookshelf. Luke and Leia quickly grew bored and moved on to pestering Obi to play with them. 

Padme was scrubbing the skillet with all her frustration and anger at her parents. 

She could have had this years ago. Luke and Leia could have been together all along and be this happy. She could have been with Anakin all this time and not have stupid nerves about a stupid date that she should have been an old pro at. Anakin and she had been on numerous dates already. Before Luke and Leia’s birth. 

It was funny how that was what defined her life. Before their birth and after their birth. Before she met Anakin again. After she met Anakin again. 

“Padme.” 

A gentle hand laid on her elbow and Padme stopped her intense scrubbing. Padme looked up and met the steady gaze of Obi Kenobi. 

“Go get ready for your date. I can finish here.” Obi nudged her to the side. 

“I’ve got it.” Padme resumed her scraping with a spatula. 

The utensil was plucked from her hands and she was gently shoved to the side of the sink. 

“Hey!” 

“I don’t presume to even begin to know what you are feeling. All I know is that Anakin was a wreck after their birth. There were a few times I was worried that he would follow after you. Those days I spent here with him and Leia. I once spent almost two months here straight.” Obi began scrubbing the pan. He looked up and met her eyes. “I have never seen him this happy in all the years I have known him.” He paused for a moment. “Well, that’s not exactly true. He was this happy once. Six and a half years ago when he met you. For that whole year and a half, he was happy. And now he has you back and I want this to work out between you. You both deserve this after what they did to you.” 

“Obi, I-” Padme was at a loss for words. Burning through her was gratefulness and fear and shame and guilt. It was all too much for her to decipher. “Thank you.” She settled on. It was too few words to describe just how much she felt. It would have to do for now, but Padme vowed to do something for Obi to pay him back for the sacrifice he gave to his job and for the care he gave to Anakin and Leia. 

“Go get ready. I’ve got Luke and Leia. We might have a picnic in the park.” Obi shooed her from the kitchen. 

“Okay. Okay. I’m going.” Padme went to Anakin’s bedroom cautiously. Anakin had been in there since they got back from breakfast with Shmi. “Anakin?” Padme knocked on the door. 

“Come in,” Anakin called. 

Padme opened the door and found Anakin sitting at his desk with a whole mess of things spread out on the top. The gutted remains of two identical laptops were overflowing onto the nightstand next to him. 

Padme stared as Anakin bowed his head over a small piece and used a tool to do something on the green circuit board. 

“Anakin? Did you forget the time?” Padme winced as Anakin jumped so far that he banged his knee on the bottom of the desk. 

“Padme? What time is it? I got so wrapped up in this project that I lost track of time. I’m sorry.” Anakin stood up and tried to make order out of the mess of spare parts. 

He seemed satisfied after a few adjustments, but to Padme, it still looked messy. 

“Give me three seconds. I just need to change my shirt.” Anakin went over to the dresser and began tugging on the handles of a drawer. 

Padme walked to her suitcase sitting by the closet door. She unzipped it and sorted through her clothes for something clean. She was going to have to do laundry if she wanted something for tomorrow. 

Soon, both were changed and were saying goodbye to their twins. 

“Be good for Obi, Luke. I’ll be back soon.” Padme hugged her son and then turned to Leia. “Goodbye Sweetheart. You can call us if you need us.” Padme carefully hugged her daughter. 

“We’ll be fine, Mama. Go have fun with Daddy.” Leia squirmed away from her and ran over to Obi. “Can we play horse? I want a ride and Luke needs to play too.” 

Padme smiled fondly and left the apartment with Anakin by her side. It was time for their date. 

****

Anakin strode down the sidewalk with Padme by his side. He was nervous. This was the first time since he found out she was alive that he would be able to interact with her without little ears listening in. “So… what do you want to do first? Sightseeing or lunch?” 

Padme smiled up at him. “I could use some food.” 

“Lunch it is.” Anakin led her towards his and Leia’s favorite restaurant. “Dex is a little eccentric but he makes the best food ever. It might not look like much, but trust me. He has the best food.” 

Anakin pushed open the door to the small diner. He loved this place. Obi had found it at first and showed Leia and him. 

The diner’s outside was red and silver with huge glass windows that let in the sunlight. A sign above the door read ‘DEX’s’ in red cursive script. The inside had booths lined up along the walls. A jukebox played in the corner. Customers sat in the cherry bench seats with plates of food and milkshakes in front of them. 

“After you.” Anakin held the door open for Padme to enter. 

The smell of Dex’s cheeseburgers made his mouth water. Anakin led her to Leia and his favorite booth. It was right in front of the window by the door. 

They settled down and ordered their food. 

“So…” Anakin spoke into the awkward silence that had fallen over them. “Last I knew you were almost graduating college with a degree in business. What happened after…?” Anakin couldn’t finish the sentence. The lump in his throat was too big. 

“After I graduated?” Padme gave a slight smile. “I started working at my mother’s interior decorating firm for two years before striking out on my own. It didn’t go over too well with my parents but they eventually gave in a little. Looking back it seems a whole lot now. I have a high end… sort of… well,” 

Anakin found the blush to her cheeks cute. 

“I’m a high-end party planner. Not my first choice for jobs but it meets Luke and my needs. We own a nice house just outside of Charlotte as far away from my parents as I could get without being rude.” Padme accepted her sprite from the waitress with a polite smile. 

Anakin nodded his thanks as the waitress set down his own soft drink. “Any fun stories to tell about Luke?” Anakin smiled as he thought of Leia. 

“I have a few but I’m guessing not as much as you do about Leia.” Padme took a sip but froze with the straw pressed between her lips. “Anakin? Why is that lady staring at me?” She whispered. 

Anakin turned around and spotted Sienna Watson glaring at Padme angrily. Anakin looked back at Padme and grinned. “That’s Sienna Watson. She used to be Leia’s daycare teacher.” 

Anakin launched into the tale of supposed imaginary friends, ‘mean’ teachers, an innocent pair of scissors, and one very protective little girl. 

Padme laughed at all the right parts and gasped when Anakin told her of the phone call he got. 

“She called me, screaming hysterically, and calling Leia demon spawn. It didn’t make me like her any better. From what I could get out of Leia, that occurred on the day you guys headed this way.” Anakin saw their food coming and cleared a space for the plates. 

“About that. I didn’t know they had this bond type thing? Luke kept it from me at least.” Padme eyed the messy double bacon cheeseburger that was set before her. 

Anakin picked up his burger and took a bite. He chewed and swallowed before responding. “I did. Well, I thought Luke was Leia’s imaginary friend. Ever since she could talk she would talk to ‘thin air’. Everybody told me to discourage her but I couldn’t do it. I just let her talk to Luke. I’m forever grateful I did. I never would have found you again.” 

“I’m glad too.” Padme still hadn’t picked up her food. 

“Something wrong?” Anakin paused with his drink raised halfway to his mouth. 

“Just wondering the best way to eat this.” Padme’s brow furrowed as she studied the burger before her. 

“Padme, just dive on it. It’s okay to get messy. I think I have some wipes in the truck if you need them.” Anakin popped a french fry in his mouth as Padme set her jaw and picked up the burger. 

“Here goes nothing,” Padme muttered as she took her first bite of Dex’s food. 

Anakin waited until she swallowed before grinning. “What do you think? Is it the best food ever or what?” 

“Or what.” Padme teased. 

There wasn’t much talking until both burgers had been eaten. They chatted about little things as they ate their fries and drank their drinks. Anakin paid the bill and they headed back out into the hot Arizona sun. 

********

Padme took in a deep breath of air. It may have been stifling hot but the air was a lot fresher here than back in North Carolina. 

“Where to now?” 

Padme was having a nice time. The burgers were some of the best eat-out food she has ever had. The conversation had been light and easy. Perfect for a couple who had been out of sync for the past five years. 

“We are going for a walk.” Anakin held out his arm and waved down the street. “A tour of all my old haunts as a kid and then we will swing by my shop. I need to make sure everything is okay and then we can go home?” 

“Sounds good to me.” Padme walked with Anakin down the street. 

He showed her where the schools were. In this town, all three schools were all within the same four-block radius. (Leia would start kindergarten next year. According to Anakin) 

They saw the small bowling alley/arcade/pizzeria that Leia and Anakin went to sometimes. (Leia could kick his butt on the dancing games. She was that good at them.)

They walked the main street and window shopped all the little shops down the way. (Leia loved the little toy store. In fact, some of Cliegg’s work was displayed there)

They were walking out of town a little way when Padme had enough. “Anakin?” Padme came to a stop by the side of the dusty road. 

“What’s wrong?” Anakin walked back towards her. 

“You have told me a lot about Leia and I am happy to hear about her, don’t get me wrong, but I want to hear about you, what you have been up to, what you like, what your plans are. You’ve talked so much about Leia that I love her even more but you’ve hardly said anything about you.” Padme placed her hands at her sides deliberately. She wanted to twist them in nerves. “Will you tell me about you?” 

Anakin was quiet for a full minute before he sighed. “Yes. I’ll tell you about me. What do you want to know?” 

Anakin began walking again and Padme followed him.

“Why computers?” Padme asked the burning question. It had been on her mind ever since that morning when she saw him showing Luke his work. “You were a pilot. I thought you would go into another branch of mechanics.” 

Anakin fiddled with his prosthetic. “I couldn’t. After my accident and you… I just couldn’t stand to do it. When Leia was born I lived with my mother. I took night classes and learned enough about computers to fix them and I just sort of stumbled my way through the rest of it. I opened up my shop when Leia was two. I’ve been working hard ever since.” 

Anakin avoided her gaze and pointed to a massive boulder in the distance. “I used to race out there. That rock was the finish line. Every time I would win, I would buy my mom something we needed or she wanted with the money I got.” 

Padme raised an eyebrow. “Did she know?” 

“My mother? No. I kept it from her for years but I am pretty sure she guessed. Racing wasn’t exactly a secret in this town and people looked the other way as long as there were no injuries or fights.” Anakin shot her an impish grin. “I won quite a lot. They were sad when I went off to college.” 

Padme let him distract her for now. She swore they would come back to this later. 

They didn’t go all the way out to the huge rock. They walked halfway before Padme got thirsty and they headed back. 

“I’m sorry Ani. I’m not used to this heat.” Padme apologized.

“It’s alright. Not many like the desert. Plus it is getting to be the hottest part of today.” Anakin led her back down the road back towards the town. “We should have taken the truck anyway. It might have made it go a lot faster.” 

They made it to town and Anakin got her a drink at the grocery store right on the edge of town. 

“Hey, do you think we should get something for the kids and Obi to enjoy?” Anakin brought up the subject as he stood before a display of packaged cookies. 

Padme fiddled with the cold bottle of water that Anakin just handed her. She wanted to buy it first before drinking it but she was really thirsty. She shot a look around and saw a mother with a toddler. The mother gave the toddler an open bag of snacks. 

Padme decided to drink it anyway. She was going to pay for it anyway. As long as she did that right?

Padme twisted off the cap and drank the cool refreshing water. 

“Padme?” Anakin turned to face her. “Should we get a treat for the kids and Obi?” 

“What did you have in mind?” Padme eyed the beaming man in front of her. 

******

“Uncle Obi?” 

Leia had an amazing idea that she wanted to do before Daddy and Mama got back. 

Luke and she had come up with it while Uncle Obi made lunch. They had sandwiches but Uncle Obi used the good bread to make it. His sandwiches were the best. Daddy made the best mac ’n cheese though. 

After Daddy and Mama had left Uncle Obi played with them for a while. They played horse and monster. 

Monster, was where Uncle Obi pretended to be a tickle monster and captured Luke. Leia had to save him. Then Leia got captured and Luke saved her. 

They ate lunch as a break and now Leia wanted to do her idea. Right now Uncle Obi had put on a movie. (Mulan was the best in Leia’s opinion. Uncle Obi even sang the song where she first joined the army and was training!)

“Yes, dear one?” Uncle Obi was rubbing Luke’s back as the movie played on the tv. 

“I had an idea. I want to color a picture for Daddy and Mama. Well, we want to color a picture for them. You have to do one too.” Leia explained. 

“I think we can do that after you take a nap.” Uncle Obi looked at his watch. 

“I’m not tired.” Leia scowled. Leia had a feeling that pouting was not going to work. She widened her eyes and clasped her hands in front of her chest. “Please can we color, Uncle Obi?” 

Luke snorted in her head and sent her a picture of what she looked like. Leia poked him back and pleaded for help when it seemed like Uncle Obi was not going to budge. 

_ Maybe you should tell him what it’s about? He might help us because it’s for mama and daddy.  _

Leia decided to listen to Luke. “Uncle Obi? We want to color pictures of our family so Mama and Daddy will decide to stay here. Luke says Mama was planning on going back to North Carolina in two days. Please, Uncle Obi? Can we please skip our nap to color pictures for Mama and Daddy?” 

Uncle Obi did something weird. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. He muttered something under his breath and then he finally looked at Leia. 

“If you ever want a job in the future, Leia, you can always come to me.” 

With those strange words, Uncle Obi stood up and got out the paper and markers. 

Leia settled at the kitchen table carefully coloring on a piece of paper. She first colored Daddy and her and then added in Luke and Mama. She then added Uncle Obi and Uncle Owen. 

She had to start over then because there was no more room on the paper. She started over with her and daddy and then Mama and Luke and then Grandma and Grandpa and then Uncle Obi, Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru, and her soon-to-be baby cousin. 

Leia sighed in relief as she squeezed Aunt Beru’s big tummy at the edge of the paper. She picked up a brown marker and colored the sandy dirt beneath them and then exchanged it for a blue one as she colored the sky. 

The blue reminded her of ‘Soka. She wanted to see her again. Leia still wanted her hair colored. 

Leia set down the blue marker and grabbed at the end of her neatly braided hair. Mama’s hair was this color. A brown that reminded Leia of chocolate. Leia wanted to touch her hair. Maybe Mama would let Leia do her hair or at least brush it? 

_ What are you doing Leia?  _

Luke’s words in her head got her out of her thoughts. 

_ I was thinking of ‘Soka and her hair.  _

_ What do you mean? Hair is hair.  _

Leia sighed at Luke’s confusion. 

_ No. Not ‘Soka’s hair. It’s white and blue and she has it done in a weird style. She has two big braids down the side like me but she has one more in the middle down her back. _

_ White hair? Is she old?  _

_ That’s what I asked and she told me she dyed it.  _

Leia thought for a moment. Her eyes fell back to the blue marker before her. Leia grinned and grabbed a fresh sheet of paper. She drew ‘Soka’s face and hair. 

She passed the paper to Luke. “This is ‘Soka.” 

Uncle Obi must have seen her drawing. “Who’s that Leia?” 

“I just said. It’s ‘Soka.” Leia went back to coloring the blue sky in her family picture. 

“‘Soka? You mean Ahsoka Tano?” Uncle Obi studied the picture. “It’s very well done. I think she’ll like it.” 

Leia stopped coloring. “You know ‘Soka?” 

“I do. In fact, I’ll be seeing her after your parents get back.” Uncle Obi didn’t say anything more. 

Leia shared a look with Luke. She quickly finished her family picture before grabbing a fresh piece of paper. Luke took a bit longer but he finished his picture too. 

Leia was getting sleepy but she had to finish the picture. Leia yawned as she colored the last bit of her work. 

“Leia, come on. Let’s go finish the movie.” Uncle Obi picked her up and laid her on the couch. 

Leia let out a protest but then Uncle Obi’s hand was on her back and he was humming some song and Leia just couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. 

Leia hummed along with Uncle Obi as she fell asleep. 

******

Luke woke up to voices. 

“How were they?” That was a man’s voice. It was familiar but not quite. 

“Absolute angels.” Another man’s voice. Almost familiar too. 

The first man snorted. “Have you met Leia? I mean really met her.” 

“Anakin.” 

That was Mama’s voice! 

Luke sat up and sleepily rubbed his eyes. “Mama?” 

“Hey, Sweetheart. How was your nap?” 

Luke got down from the couch and walked over to his mama. He held out his arms and soon he was picked up. He placed his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes. She still smelled like cinnamon and spices but there was something new there. 

Luke felt himself being rocked. He still felt sleepy. His hand came up without him thinking and he slipped his thumb in his mouth. He only did that when he was really tired or he was scared. His grandparents hated it but Luke did it when they couldn’t see. Arizona seemed far enough away from them that he could do it without being yelled at. 

“Shhh. Go back to sleep Luke. I’m here.” Luke’s mama whispered. 

Luke felt his eyes slipping closed. “Love you, Mama. Love you, Daddy. Made art for you.” 

Luke tried to explain but his mama’s swaying got to him and he fell asleep again. 

Luke woke the second time to food cooking. It was Luke’s favorite food. Tacos. 

Luke opened his eyes to see he was back on the couch. Leia was sitting on the couch next to him with Daddy. A show was on about some robots. It was interesting but they were already watching it. 

“Daddy?” Luke yawned. “What are you watching?” 

“Robots.” Daddy answered. 

Luke watched for a few minutes. “Can you start it over? It looks fun.” 

Daddy smiled a smile so big Luke thought his cheeks must have been hurting. “Sure.” 

Leia shot him a scary look while their daddy worked the remote. 

“What?” Luke was confused. Why was Leia looking at him like that? 

“Now we have to watch it from the beginning. I hate this movie.” Leia scowled at the TV. 

“Leia? What’s wrong with this movie?” Daddy sounded like Mama does when Luke finds a spider. 

“I don’t like it.” Leia pouted. 

“You’ve always watched it with me before.” Daddy paused the movie as it began to play. 

“That’s because you wanted to see it and there was nothing else to do.” Leia crossed her arms over her chest. 

“So, you watched this movie with me, not because you liked it, but because I like it?” Daddy frowned. “Why didn’t you say something? We didn’t have to watch it all the time.” 

Leia just sighed and got off the couch. “I’m going to see Mama.” 

Leia’s walk looked different. She stood up straight and placed her hands by her side without swinging them. She moved at an even pace to the kitchen.

Luke felt dread welling up. That was how Grandmother Naberrie walked and how she wanted Luke to walk. How was she getting to Leia? She was back in North Carolina. 

Luke had to stop this. He didn’t want Leia to end up like his cousins. He wanted Leia to have her fun bouncy walk. He didn’t want her to be stuffy and ‘proper’. 

Luke shot a panicked look at his dad. “Daddy? What’s wrong with Leia? Why is she walking like that?” 

Daddy looked thoughtful. “I think she’s trying to be like your mother.” 

Luke let out a sigh of relief. Grandmother wasn’t talking to her. “Well, I don’t want her to be like Mama. I want her to be like Leia.” 

“Like Leia?” Luke’s Daddy said what he said. 

“Yes. Like Leia. Fun and happy. Not stuffy and proper like Grandmother wants.” Luke tried to explain but all Daddy did was laugh. 

“We’ll talk to her. Want to watch the movie, Little Co-Pilot?” Daddy pressed play on the remote. 

Luke eagerly watched the movie. Slowly he began inching his way to his daddy’s side. By the time the evil robot started trying to chop up the others, Luke was close enough to hide his face in his daddy’s side. 

A big hand, soft and gentle, landed on his back and began moving soothingly. 

Luke felt brave enough to watch the rest of the show. 

“Dinner!” Leia yelled from the kitchen. 

“Leia. I could have done that. I asked you to go get them for dinner.” 

Luke smiled at his mama’s gentle scolding. With her and the rest of them, Leia had to see that everyone wanted her to be like Leia not like Mama. 

Luke ate his food that night happily. He gave his parents his picture of his family. He hoped they could stay in Arizona. He wanted to be like this forever.


	9. Author's Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note

This story is going on a temp hiatus. I have gotten covid-19 and I had to be hospitalized for four days because of it. My oxygen levels kept dropping and I couldn't breathe. Still can't breathe. I am 23 and am finally home but I am on an oxygen tank. The doctors are worried that I'll never recover the full use of my lungs again if I don't rest and take it easy. I will try to work on it. I have an awesome idea. Some of you might hate me. (Angst train coming up 😈) 

This is going to be a series that may or may not have a prequel, an Obitine maybe one shot and a secondary maybe even bigger story for Rex and Ahsoka. Stick with me guys. I promise you will like it. 

Mighty


	10. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some angst and fluff and all things in between. ;) 
> 
> I am doing better. I will be off the oxygen soon. So good news! We will see on Tuesday if I have to keep wearing it. I am almost fully recovered and felt well enough to work on this. Enjoy this chapter. I am so evil. 
> 
> Thanks for the get well soon wishes. I hope you like this chapter.

Leia went to bed last night happy. She woke up the next morning still happy but mostly grumpy. Luke and she shared her bed last night and Luke stole all the blankets. To make things worse, Daddy and Mama were arguing. 

“Anakin, you need to go to work. I’ll be fine here with Luke and Leia. We can do some things here and then before you know it, you’ll be back.” 

Leia entered the living room to see Mama folding her clothes. She had some pretty things. Leia saw a light pink shirt that looked soft. 

“Padme, I just got you back. I don’t want to leave you.” Daddy was begging! 

“Anakin.” 

Mama set down the pants she was holding in her hands. She walked over to Daddy and leaned towards him. 

Leia quickly put her hands over her eyes. When no gross kissing noises came, Leia peeked through her fingers and saw Daddy and Mama hugging. 

“I’m not going anywhere. Go to work and you can call us on your breaks. We’ll be fine. Honestly Anakin, I’m not going to take them and run away.” Mama pulled back from Daddy. 

“Don’t even joke about that.” Daddy sounded mad. “That’s not funny.” 

Mama sighed. “Anakin, please? You know you have that customer coming for that laptop you spent nearly all night on.” 

“Alright fine. I’ll go to work. You drive a hard bargain.” 

Leia wondered what that meant. “Daddy? Mama? I’m hungry.” 

Daddy smiled and picked her up. “Good morning, Little Angel.” Daddy kissed her head and hugged her tight. 

“Anakin.” Mama sounded like Uncle Obi does when Leia was doing something wrong. 

“Alright. I’ll go to work.” Daddy set Leia down on the couch and knelt on the floor. “I love you, Little Angel. Be good for your mother okay? No getting into things you are not supposed to and listen to her when she tells you things.” 

“I know Daddy. I’ll be good. It’s Mama after all.” Leia flung her arms around Daddy’s neck. “I love you, Daddy. Have a good day at work.” Leia kissed his cheek. “Come back safe.” 

“I will, Leia.” Daddy stood up. 

“Mama?” Luke’s sleepy voice came from their doorway. “Daddy? Are you going somewhere?” 

“Good morning, Luke. How did you sleep?” Daddy got on the floor in front of Luke. 

“Cold,” Luke muttered. He threw himself at Daddy and hung on tight. 

Leia could feel Luke’s happiness and comfort at the action. She smiled as Daddy looked shocked before returning the hug. 

“Where are you going?” Luke asked again. 

Leia turned to tug on her mama’s pants. “Mama? Can I brush your hair? It looks soft and I like the color.” 

“Okay, Leia. Just let me finish folding these and after breakfast. Deal?” Mama shook out a pair of shorts. 

“Deal. Can I help you fold clothes?” Leia bounced in place eagerly. 

Daddy let out a loud noise and fell to the floor. “Did… did I just hear that right? Leia Skywalker, my Little Angel, willingly asking to do chores and with a smile on her face? I just… Padme? You are a goddess among women. If you can get her to do chores, you will forever have a place here.” 

Leia scowled and rolled her eyes as Daddy acted like he was dead. She ignored Luke’s giggles and Mama laughing. She pouted. “It’s not that funny.” More laughter. “Stop laughing!” Leia stomped her foot. 

“Sorry, Little Angel.” Daddy got off the floor. “I’m heading out now. Be good all three of you.” Daddy picked up his work bag and his lunch box and left the house. 

“So… what do you two want for breakfast?” Mama turned to them with a smile on her face. 

Leia decided she was the most beautiful when she smiled. Leia shared a look with Luke. 

“Pancakes!” Leia yelled with Luke at the same time. 

“Okay. Pancakes it is.” Mama set down the shirt she was folding and headed for the kitchen. 

*****

Padme winced at the sharp tugging of the hairbrush through her hair. 

Leia seemed so delighted at the option to do Padme’s own hair. Padme didn’t know where Leia’s hair obsession came from but she can only guess this Soka person started it. 

Padme made sure that Leia’s hands were clean before touching her dark tresses. Padme did not want sticky syrup in her hair. 

Little hands tugged on her curls with an almost awed touch. Leia tried to braid the hair but only succeeded in tangling it into a knot. 

Padme held still as her little girl fulfilled her desire to do her hair. She would fix it later. 

"Done!" Leia tugged on her hand. "Come on! Come see!" 

Padme stood up and headed for the bathroom, careful of the mess of clips and awkwardly placed bobby pins. She gazed into the mirror in slight horror. She quickly smiled a diplomatic grin. "Thanks for doing my hair, Leia." 

Padme's heart fell as Leia frowned. "You don't like it? I know it's messy and I'm not good at it but I can try to do better." 

"Leia," Padme thought about how best to answer her perceptive daughter. "How about we both can learn how to do each other's hair? I can show you how to do mine and you can tell me what you like in yours?" 

Leia beamed. "I like that. Thanks, Mama." Leia quickly looked at the floor. "C-can you leave it down today? It's really pretty and I liked doing it." 

"Sure. Let me show you." 

Padme spent the next ten minutes brushing her hair and placing Leia's hairclips around her head. "How's this?" 

Padme showed off her hair to Leia. 

"Perfect!" 

Leia was so happy that Padme felt a true grin spread across her face. She hasn't smiled like that since she was a teenager and had managed to ditch her mother approved babysitter for the afternoon. Her cheeks ached. 

"Mooooommmmmmm!!!!" Luke yelled from the living room. "Someone is here!!!" 

Padme entered the main area with a gentle scolding on her lips. She paused as she took in the girl in front of her. 

The teenager was wearing a red tank top with denim shorts that came down to just above her knees. An oversized white men’s overshirt was tied around her upper chest. A tie-dye purse was slung across one shoulder. Her hair was the most unique thing Padme had ever seen. It was a bright white with blue stripes across three french braids on her head. A matching headband rested in her hair making the outer two braids look like they had points. 

"Soka!!!" Leia ran for the teenager and hugged her knees. "This is my Mama. Mama, this is Soka! I told you I was going to get a Mama. Look! She did my hair! It's not as cool as yours and I don't want mine dyed anymore. Maybe when I'm older Daddy will let me. Maybe I'll get brown and blue hair so that way I'll be sort of like you but also like my Mama." 

Soka looked like she was overwhelmed. Leia was talking at a million miles an hour and Soka could barely get a word in. 

"Leia," Padme spoke firmly. "Let her speak." 

"Yes, Mama." Leia bounced in place as she went silent. 

Padme wondered if Leia would explode soon with all the energy she seemed to have. 

"You must be Soka? I've heard a lot of things about you." Padme gave a smile to the frazzled sixteen-year-old. "I'm Padme. Leia's mother." 

"Ah. Yes. Actually, it's  _ Ah _ soka. Ahsoka Tano and I thought I was watching Leia today?" 

The poor girl seemed so confused. Padme didn't blame her. Padme herself was still not believing this a little and she had been living it for the past few days. 

"Mr. Skywalker said to be here by eight-thirty?" Ahsoka wrinkled her brow. 

Leia made a peeping noise when Ahsoka mentioned her dad. Padme glanced over and had to smile. It looked like it was taking everything in Leia to let the grown-ups talk. 

"Luke? Why don't you and Leia…" Padme hesitated for a split second, thinking about something to do today when she remembered something Leia suggested on Saturday. "Go get ready for our tea party. Doesn't Lucy need to get dressed?" 

"Sure Mama. Come on Leia." Luke pulled on his sister's hand. 

Leia's face fell. She looked between Padme, Luke, and Ahsoka. "But… Soka is here. I never see her." 

Padme was about to gently reprimand her for whining when Luke did something weird. 

"Leia." Was all he said in a firm tone. He locked eyes with Leia and both twins turned and left without a word. 

"Mrs. Skywalker?" Ahsoka sounded hesitant. 

"Ms. Naberrie." Padme corrected sharply without thinking. She winced as Ahsoka flinched. Padme deflated. She ran a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry. It's been a long three days. Would you like some tea?" 

"As long as I don't have to wear a feather boa, I'm good." Ahsoka dropped her purse by the door. 

Padme led the way to the kitchen and pulled out the pitcher of fresh iced sweet tea she had made last night. "Ice?" 

"Yes, please, Ma'am." Ahsoka sat at the table. "Where's Mr. Skywalker?" 

"He's at work right about now. I'm so sorry about the mix-up. Next time I'll be sure to double-check with Anakin about any possible sitters coming over." Padme poured two glasses of tea and set them on the table. She sat down with a sigh. "I hate to think you made a trip for nothing." 

"It's cool. I had no plans for today anyway." Ahsoka picked up her glass and took a small sip. "Do you mind me asking what exactly is going on? Last I knew Mr. Skywalker didn't have you and that was two days ago." 

"That's… a long story."

Ahsoka twirled the ice around in her cup. "I'm not going anywhere." 

"It all started about six years ago. I was going on a short trip with my parents and we came across this cocky pilot who had the most gorgeous eyes…." 

Padme tried not to let the memories wash over her. She spent about half an hour telling Ahsoka about her dating Anakin and how her parents split them up. 

"Wait! Your parents purposely told you that your Baby’s Daddy left you because your daughter died and he couldn't cope when all along they duped him too and led him to believe that both you and your son died splitting you up all because he didn't make enough money as a pilot?" 

"Yes?" Padme had to admit, it sounded bad when you put it that way. 

"And I thought my parents were bad." Ahsoka whistled. "What happened a couple of days ago? All I know was Leia was saying Luke was coming and she was getting a Mama." 

"My children are more devious than I thought. Luke and Leia can sense each other and somehow planned to meet at the Grand Canyon on Saturday. One thing led to another and here I am playing happy family to…" Padme saw something shift out of the corner of her eye. "Two amazing children that should know better than to listen in at the door behind a bookshelf that should really be moved." 

"Aw. Mama!" Leia grumbled. "How do you do that!?" 

"I am a mom. I have eyes in the back of my head. Are you all dressed for today?" Padme held back a chuckle at Leia's wide-eyed glance at Padme's hair. 

"Pay up Leia. I told you she would know. Mama always knows." Luke's whisper wasn't exactly quiet. 

"Luke, I know you are not betting in this house." Padme sighed at her son's cheeky grin. 

"Of course not Mama. I don't got any money." 

Ahsoka laughed. "Good luck. Do you need me today?" She stood up and stretched. 

"I think we're good. Excuse me a moment." Padme hurried for her room and grabbed the fifty dollars she kept as spare change in her wallet. She hid it in a ten-dollar bill and headed back out to the main room. 

Padme walked into laughter. 

"And then Daddy started falling on the floor and saying how Mama was a goddess and they were laughing at me." Leia's childish voice was full of the pout Padme was sure she was sporting. 

"Ahsoka? Please, stop by for dinner sometime? You are welcome whenever you want." Padme held out her hand with the money hidden in it. 

"What about when you go back? I don't think Mr. Skywalker would honor that." Ahsoka took her hand and then blinked down at the cash in it. 

"For gas and an apology for having you come all this way for nothing," Padme answered her silent question. "And who knows what the future will bring. I've learned to just focus on today. It's less stressful." 

"Thanks…" Ahsoka seemed to hesitate before saying, "Thanks Ms. Naberrie." 

"Padme, please. You've just heard my life story. I think we can be a little more casual than that." Padme shot the sixteen-year-old a fond smile. "It was very nice to meet you." 

CRASH!!!! 

"Mooooommmmmmm!!! Leia just knocked over the tea!!!" Luke yelled a split second after the sound of something falling reached her ears. 

Padme closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. 

"Good luck Ms. P. That happens here more often than not." Ahsoka picked up her purse and walked out the door. "Nice to meet you!" 

The front door shut with a click. Silence. Then… 

"Mooooommmmmmm!!" 

*****

Anakin bounced his knee and eyed the old analog clock on the wall. 9:09. Only twenty-four minutes since he opened and one hundred forty-one minutes until he could call home. 

"Mr. Skywalker? How do you fix a digital clock that is moving twice as fast than it should?" 

Bless Rex. Really. Anakin should knight him or make him a sain-. No. Knighting is cooler. The kid would love it. 

"Mr. Skywalker? You okay, Sir?" Rex poked his blonde head into Anakin's workroom. "Sir?" 

Anakin jolted. "Sorry, Rex. What do you need?" 

Rex was quiet for a moment. "I have an old radio I'm fixing up for Cody for his birthday. I know it's not for another month. It's only July, but I have some questions. Cody loves all that old technology stuff. Something about not appreciating history or whatever. Can you help me out?" 

Anakin focused on the seventeen-year-old before him. "Sure. What's the make and model?" 

Rex seemed strangely relieved. 

Yep. Definitely knighthood. 

Anakin focused on the interesting project that Rex had picked up. The radio looked to be made new in the 1960s. It was an incredible find and Anakin was happy to help. The radio was soon spread out on Rex’s workstation. 

The bell above the door rang out and Anakin took a break to present the laptop to the finicky customer. The transaction was soon complete and Anakin was back to working in his area and eyeing up the clock like it did harm to his family. 

“Sir? I can watch the counter for a few minutes if you want to take a break for lunch.” Rex walked out of the small workroom to the main floor. 

Anakin bolted for his bag. “Thanks, Rex! I’ll be back in half an hour! You are being knighted later.” 

“Sir?” 

Anakin saw a brief flash of Rex’s confused face before slamming the backdoor shut. He sat down at the wooden table and pulled out his phone. Anakin hit the number that Padme gave him and let it ring. 

On the second ring, it picked up. 

“Hello?” Luke’s childish voice answered the phone. 

Anakin grinned. “Hey, buddy. It’s Daddy.” 

“Hi, Daddy!” Luke’s happiness made Anakin’s heart swell. 

“Hey. What are you up to?” 

Anakin listened avidly as Luke told him about going for a walk to the park and eating pancakes for breakfast. When he mentioned Ahsoka, Anakin winced. He had forgotten about how he had paid her for the week to watch Leia. 

“I don’t know why Leia likes hair so much.” Luke was saying into the phone. “Do you know why Daddy?” 

“It’s a girl thing, Luke. I don’t think we will ever know.” Anakin laughed as he imagined Luke’s wide-eyed, shocked look. “Hey, is Mama there?” 

It was curious why Luke had her phone and she hasn’t come to see him yet. 

“Yep. She and Leia are in the bathroom. They were having a tea party and Leia spilled tea all over Larry. Leia was crying and Mama took her to the bathroom to clean him.” Luke sounded unenthusiastic. “I don’t like tea parties. The only good thing about it was eating the cookies Mama let us have.” 

Anakin winced in sympathy. “I don’t like them either, but listen, sometimes we have to do things we may not like to make someone else happy. Did Leia like the tea party? Was she happy?” 

“Yeah. Especially when Mama brought out cookies. Mama said next time she will make little cakes for it. She called them petty four cakes. Daddy, do you think Mama means she will let me have four cakes to myself?” 

“I don’t know, Buddy.” Anakin checked on his watch for the time. He only had five minutes to eat his lunch and head back inside. “Can I talk to Mama?” 

“Sure. Mooooommmmmmmm!!!!!” 

Anakin yanked the phone from his ear as Luke’s piercing shout blasted the speakers. 

“Luke, what have I told you about yelling like that for me?” Padme’s voice sounded almost like a whisper in comparison to the deafening shriek of Luke. 

“To not to. Here. It’s Daddy.” 

The phone changed hands and Padme’s soft voice came on the line. “Hello, Anakin.” 

Anakin frowned. She sounded tired. “How is everything going?” Anakin put the phone on speaker as he opened his lunch box. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention Ahsoka to you. I hope there wasn’t an issue. I can text her later. Her boyfriend works for me so I can get her a message that way too.” 

Padme’s warm laugh made him freeze. “Now I see where Leia gets it from. Everything is going fine. I’m going to make some lunch here in a minute and then it’s N-A-P-T-I-M-E and then the park if they still have a lot of energy. We’ll see you at six?” 

Anakin thought about how much work was piling up on his work table. “Might want to make it six-thirty. I have some work to do.” 

“Okay.” Padme sounded distracted. “Oh, Luke no!” 

There was a crash over the phone. 

“Ani I have to go. See you at home at six-thirty. Love you, bye.” 

Anakin’s jaw dropped. “Did she just…?” 

Anakin blinked. Did he hear that right? Warm feelings spread in his chest. She loved him? She loved him! Anakin whooped out loud. 

“Mr. Skywalker! If you are done with your lunch, I could use some help in here!” 

Rex sounded panicked. 

Anakin leaped to his feet and ran back inside. She loved him! Maybe things would work out after all. Anakin’s hope swelled further. He felt like he was floating. 

“Sir?” 

Rex was exasperated with him. Anakin just knew it. 

“That doesn’t go there.” 

“Right. Sorry.” Anakin forced himself to focus on his work. He could think about Padme later. “Ouch!” Anakin pinched his thumb between two pieces of metal. 

Wait! He didn’t say it back! 

“Damn it!” 

****

Luke was having an awesome day. He had never felt this amazing. He could be himself! He could run in the house after Leia. He could yell for his mom when he needed her. He could play anything he wanted, eat anything he wanted, he had cookies,  _ cookies, _ for a snack. 

Being here was awesome! Luke never wanted to go back to North Carolina. Arizona was an amazing place. 

Luke was currently playing at a park. After he got off the phone with Daddy, Mama had gotten them lunch. She seemed busy. Luke had started lunch but spilled the bread box all over the floor. 

Mama had run in and helped him. Mama seemed upset though. She scolded Luke for the help he gave her. Luke had pouted. He was only trying to help. He told Mama that. She got sad then. 

After lunch, they got ready to go and Mama walked them down the street to the park. It was a good park. It had swings and spinny things and slides and even a sandbox! 

Luke swung on the swings with Mama’s help. He was a space pilot flying high in the sky! Then he played with Leia on the spinny things. They ran around and pretended the ground was lava. 

Luke was kind of sleepy now but he didn’t want to go to bed. He would miss everything. He would miss Daddy coming home and playing with Leia and…

“Luke! It’s time to go! Come on, we need to get home.” Mama called him from the bench under a shady spot. 

Luke ran over to Mama. “Mama! I love it here. I don’t want to go back.” 

“We need to get home. We can come back later.” Mama took his hand. Luke took Leia’s hand. Mama started back down the street to Daddy’s house. 

Luke noticed that his Mama called Daddy’s house home. Luke whined as they went through the front door. “Mama? Can we go do something?” 

“How about we watch a movie? What do you guys want to watch?” Mama helped Luke take off his shoes. 

Leia ran for the living room. “Beauty and the Beast!” 

“Robots!” Luke ran after her. 

“No!” Leia scowled. “I hate that movie!” 

“Well, I hate Beauty and the Beast!” Luke glared at Leia as she crossed her arms in front of him. 

“I’m not watching that stupid robot show.” Leia was being so mean! 

“It’s not stupid! Daddy likes it!” Luke argued. Why can’t Leia see it was a good movie? 

“Kids!” Mama shouted. 

Luke stopped looking at Leia. He felt bad. His Mama sounded really angry. 

“I have had enough! Luke, we are not watching Robots. Leia, we are not watching Beauty and the Beast. I am picking the movie. I want both of you to sit on the couch, quietly, while I get the movie on the tv. Why can’t you two get along? You were behaving fine a few hours ago.” Mama went over to the tv and grabbed the remote. She put on the movie with the cooking rat. 

Luke sat on the couch. He felt really sleepy. Luke slumped down on the couch. His eyes itched. The last thing Luke remembered was Remy escaping through the water tunnel in the storm. 

^^^^

Luke woke up to Mama humming. A huge basket of clothes sat on the couch next to him. Leia was still sleeping on the other side of him. 

The movie was off. Soft music was playing from the tv. Mama sang to a song about dancing in the dark and looking perfect. 

_ “Baby, I’m dancing in the dark, with you between my arms, barefoot on the grass, we’re listening to our favorite song.” _

“You have a pretty voice, Mama.” Luke stretched his arms. He sagged back into the couch. 

Mama was folding a pair of Daddy’s shorts. Luke’s shirt went next into a pile on the table in front of the couch. Leia’s pants were in her hands when Luke got off the couch. 

“Mama?” Luke leaned against her knee. 

“Yes, Baby?” Luke’s Mama ran her hand through Luke’s hair. Luke leaned into her touch. That always felt nice. 

“When is Daddy coming home?” Luke looked up at her as Mama froze. 

“Home? Luke, home is in North Carolina. Remember? With your cousins and your school.” 

Luke rolled his eyes. “You’re being silly Mama. Home is here. With Daddy and Leia. You even said so. When Daddy called at lunch. You said ‘See you at home, love you, bye.’ See? You said it was home and it is.” 

“I-I said I love you to him?” 

Luke didn’t know why Mama was so upset. “Yes. But that’s okay. ‘Cause mamas and daddies are supposed to love each other. That’s what Leia said and Leia said that Uncle Obi told her. If Uncle Obi says it, it has to be true. Leia said that Uncle Obi is always right and is very smart.” 

Mama stood up and ran from the room. She went into Daddy’s room and closed the door. 

Luke stared after her. What did he say? What was wrong with Mama? 

Luke edged closer to Daddy’s door. He knew he wasn’t supposed to go into his Mama’s room without her there. Maybe Daddy was the same. But Mama  _ was _ in there. 

He was about to knock on the door when Mama’s phone started ringing. Luke ran to get it. Maybe Daddy was calling again? 

“Daddy?” Luke hit the button and held the phone to his ear. 

“Daddy? Luke Naberrie, tell me where you are at this instant! Where is your mother? Why are you answering her phone? This behavior is unacceptable. Children do not answer their parents’ phones. Give the phone to your mother right now and go sit down like the good boy you can be.” 

Luke swallowed harshly. “Yes, Grandmother.” 


	11. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any typos. Grammarly wasn't working. Neither was my internet for a few days but I got it done! Yay! I hope you enjoy it.

Padme was freaking out. Did she seriously just tell Anakin she loved him? Over the phone? As an afterthought to a busy time at home? 

Padme took a deep breath. She needed to think about this. Did she love Anakin? Obviously, she did at one point, but did she love him now? Yes. Yes, she did. He was so caring with Leia and Luke and was successful with his own business. He took the time to give Leia anything she needed that was within his power to give. He extended that care to Padme and Luke. 

Padme just knew that if she stayed, anything she wanted that was within Anakin’s capability to give, he would just willingly hand over to her. If she stayed, Luke and her would never want for love and affection. Anakin and Leia would give it to them a million times over. 

Padme took a deep breath. So… yes she loved Anakin. She honestly had never stopped. It might have dulled with the thoughts of his supposed betrayal but it never went away. 

“Mama.” Luke knocked on the door behind her softly. “Grandmother is on the phone for you.” 

Padme’s heart broke at the downtrodden and polite tone Luke had in his voice. Her parents were the worst. They had broken her little boy’s spirit and she didn’t even notice. 

Padme grit her teeth and stood up straight. She opened the door and accepted the phone from Luke. “Luke, why don’t you and Leia go color pictures for Daddy when he comes home from work?” 

“Yes, Mama.” Luke left the room dragging a furiously scowling Leia behind him. 

“Hello, Mother.” Padme greeted with all the calmness she could muster. She was angry. Beyond angry. Dare she say it? She was pissed off with her parents. 

“Padme, dear, you must tell me where you are. Rush called. He said he hadn’t heard from you in days. I called your work and they said you had left on vacation. I’m worried, dear. You never take spontaneous trips to nowhere.” 

“Mother. I am in Arizona.” Padme let that sink in. 

“Arizona?” Her mother sounded scandalized. “Why would you go out there? There is nothing in that state worth being there for. All it is is a bunch of sand and red rocks.” 

“And Anakin and my daughter.” Padme felt like yelling. Only the fact that her mother would get even nastier if she lost her temper stopped her from releasing her emotions. 

There was an extended pause. “I don’t know what you are talking about. When are you coming home? Rush was wondering when you two could get together again.” 

“Mother.” Padme had to count to ten in her head. “Cut the bullshit. I know what you and Father did. I know that you told Anakin that Luke and I died and I know that you lied to me and told me that my daughter died and Anakin left me willingly. I just want to know why. Why would you do this to my family? Why would you break my family apart?” 

“Really Padme, don’t be so vulgar. I raised you better than that. Besides, this is not the time to have this discussion, dear. When are you coming home?” 

Padme sighed in frustration as her mother sidestepped the question yet again. “You know what Mother? I am home and I might never come back to North Carolina. You destroyed my family once. I refuse for it to happen again. I love Anakin and I love my daughter, Leia. We are happy here and I sincerely hope that you could put aside your hatred for my chosen family and let us be happy. I’ll see you when I decide to come back to get my things. Goodbye Mother.” 

Padme hit the end call button with vicious satisfaction. That didn’t go as she wanted but, hopefully, Padme’s point was made. 

“Mama?” Leia peeked her head out of her bedroom door. “Are you okay?” 

“I’ll be fine, Little Princess. What can I help you with?” Padme noted the way Leia shot a worried look back in her room. 

Leia inched her way out of the door and closed it as softly as she could behind her. She waved her hand for Padme to follow her. 

Padme walked after Leia, extremely confused. Why was she acting like this? 

Leia didn’t stop until she was in the kitchen. Leia climbed up on the counter and turned on the sink. She was reaching for the blender when Padme stopped her. 

“Leia? What’s going on?” Padme lifted Leia off the counter and sat at the kitchen table with Leia in her lap. 

“Do that thing Mama and open the eyes in the back of your head. I don’t want Luke to hear this and the shelf hasn’t been moved yet.” 

Padme stifled a chuckle. Her daughter looked very serious and Padme didn’t think laughter would help right now. “Okay, Leia. What’s wrong?” 

Leia bit her lip and cast her eyes to the open doorway. “It’s Luke. He showed me a bit about our other Grandma and Grandpa. Did you know they yell at him when he runs or when he wants to be himself they will tell him not to and make sure that he acts all ‘proper’ all the time? They won’t even let him have any sweet lemonade! Grandma Shmi makes me sweet lemonade. Luke is really upset and I don’t know what to do. I tried hugging him but it didn’t work. What else can I do to make him feel better?” 

Padme was shocked. “Is Luke okay?” She half rose from her seat to go be with her son. Leia placed her hands on Padme’s middle and pushed as hard as she could. 

“That’s not all. Luke doesn’t want to go back. He says that his cousins are mean and make fun of him and that being here with Daddy and me is the best thing ever.” Leia wiggled on Padme’s lap. “He’s really upset Mama. And I don’t know how to help him.” 

“Let me talk to him. I know what you can do. Why don’t you make him something? I’ll go talk to Luke and you can be in here at the table.” Padme kissed Leia’s hair and set her on the seat beside her. “I’ll be right back, Sweetheart.” 

Padme stood up and left a very concerned Leia in the kitchen by herself. 

****

Luke laid on Leia’s bed and stared at her wall. Leia had hung a picture of her and Daddy by her bed. 

Luke wished with everything in him that they could move to Arizona and live with Leia and Daddy. Luke never wanted to step foot in North Carolina ever again. He hated his Grandmother! He hated her! She was mean and not like Grandma Shmi at all. Grandpa was better than Grandfather too. 

Luke sighed. Leia had left the room a few minutes ago. She had been sending him good feelings and had given him a lot of hugs but Luke still felt upset. 

Luke studied the picture of Leia and Daddy. They were by the huge wishing rock that Leia had shown him. Leia was sitting on Daddy’s shoulders and holding a popsicle. Daddy was smiling. Leia was laughing. 

Luke couldn’t look at the picture anymore without feeling sad. He turned over to face the door just as a soft knock happened on it. 

“Luke? Can I come in?” 

It was Mama. 

“Sure, Mama.” Luke sat up as Mama came into the room. 

“What’s going on, Little Space Pilot?” Mama sat on the edge of the bed next to him. 

“I don’t want to leave,” Luke whispered. “I really like it here with Daddy and Leia. I don’t want to go back to North Carolina.” 

“Leia said that Grandma Naberrie was not very nice to you.” Mama rested her hand on Luke’s hair. She ran her fingers across his head. 

Luke sighed and leaned into the touch. He loved it when Mama ran her hands through his hair. It felt so nice. 

“She’s not. She makes me call her Grandmother and yells at me whenever I do something wrong like not stand up straight or walk right. My cousins know all this but they don’t help me. At daycare, the kids make fun of me and I spend most of my time talking to Leia or playing with Lucy.” Luke felt everything just spill out of him. All the things he wanted to tell her before but wasn’t brave enough to. Being here with Daddy and Leia made him brave. 

“Oh, Luke. I’m so sorry.” Mama hugged Luke tight. 

Luke sniffed deeply. He tried really hard to not cry. Luke gave up that fight when he felt his Mama’s tears on his head. 

“I love you very much, Luke, and I’m sorry that I didn’t notice what was going on before. I promise you that I will never let it happen again. If we do go back to North Carolina we will never see Grandmother and Grandfather again. I swear it.” Mama pulled back and wiped her eyes. “I love you, Little Space Pilot. Since the day I first held you in my arms. I will never let anyone hurt you again.” 

Luke was pulled back into another hug. Luke sobbed into his Mama’s shoulder. The comforting smell of cinnamon and spices made Luke feel better. “I love you too Mama. I won’t let anyone hurt you either. So will Daddy and Leia.” 

“Thank you.” Mama kissed his forehead. “Let’s go see what your sister is up to.” 

Mama led the way out of Leia’s room to the kitchen. When Luke entered the room, Leia’s gaze went to him. 

_ Are you okay, Luke? Do you feel better?  _

“Look! I got you cookies!” Leia proudly showed off the plateful of cookies that she put together. “I wanted to get you some milk but Daddy and Uncle Obi both say I’m not supposed to get the glasses without a grownup. Plus the milk was too heavy to take out of the fridge. Mama, can you get us some milk?” 

Luke smiled.  _ Thanks, Leia. I feel much better.  _

Mama looked at the stove for a second before sighing. “What the heck. We can all use some cookies. It’s been a rough day.” 

Mama poured them glasses of milk and set the plate of cookies in the middle of the table. Before they sat down, Mama shook her head. “This isn’t going to work.” Mama picked up the plate of cookies and her glass of milk. “Come with me, kids.” 

Mama led the way to the couch and sat in the middle with the cookies in her lap. “Come on. Get up here.” 

Luke climbed up on one side of her and Leia got on the other. Mama turned on the tv and started back up the movie with the cooking rat Remy. Mama ate two cookies before putting her arms around Luke and Leia. She pulled both of them into her sides. 

“I love you both and I will try to work everything out with your dad. I’m sorry today was such a bad day.” Mama kissed Leia’s head and then Luke’s head. “I hope tonight gets better.” 

They watched the movie for a bit. Luke ate three cookies before Mama took the plate away. 

“Mama? When is Daddy coming home?” Luke snuggled closer to Mama. 

“In an hour so after this movie is done.” Mama set her phone aside. “I’ll order dinner when he gets back. What kind of pizza do you like Leia?” 

“Cheese. Sometimes I like olives on it. The black kind. Not the icky green kind. Daddy likes a pizza with a lot of meat on it. Like tons of meat.” Leia was laying against Mama. Her feet were up on the arm of the couch and her head was in her lap. Leia hummed as Mama played with her hair. 

Luke looked over at his sister. “I like cheese too but I don’t like olives. I like pepperoni pizza.” 

Leia wrinkled her nose. Luke just knew she was going to say something but Mama bopped Leia on the nose and gently tugged Luke’s hair. 

“Let’s not start this again. We can get a cheese pizza and a four meat pizza. You two can share the cheese and Daddy and I can share the meat pizza. Deal?” 

“Yes, Mama,” Luke said as Leia said the same thing at the same time. 

Mama sighed. “Twins.” 

“Mama? What are twins?” Luke was curious. Mama called them that a few times. 

“Twins are two babies that are born at the same time. They share the same birthday and are the exact same age.” Mama pressed play on the movie that Luke didn’t even know was paused. 

“Like us? Leia and I are twins?” Luke was happy. Leia wasn’t just his sister and best friend. She was also his twin. 

“Exactly like you two. Now, let’s watch finish watching the movie.” Mama went quiet and Luke focused back on the movie. 

Daddy came home right at the best part. Where the rats are cooking in the kitchen. Daddy sounded happy as he entered the room with a big smile on his face. 

“I’m home. How was your day?” Daddy set aside his work bag and lunchbox. “Can I get some hugs?” 

Leia just laid in Mama’s lap and Luke just stared at him. 

“Anakin. Not right now. We had a bad afternoon.” Mama tried to get up but Leia whined and Luke clutched at her side. 

He didn’t want her to get up. 

“What happened?” Daddy’s face went serious. 

“My mother called and demanded I come back. Luke answered the phone and she got to him. Join us for the rest of the movie? I called the pizza place from the menu you had on the fridge. It should be here in half an hour.” Mama scooted over and set Leia in her lap. Leia was now laying on Mama with her head on Mama’s shoulder. 

Daddy sat down and pulled Luke into his lap. “Hey, Little Co-Pilot. Did you have a bad day?” 

“Yes, Daddy. I missed you.” Luke snuggled into Daddy’s chest and grabbed his hands. 

“I missed you too.” Daddy was quiet as the movie finished. 

*****

Anakin was mad. That witch messed up his family’s day. It wasn’t enough that she had to break apart their family once, now she was doing it again. No more. 

Anakin stood up. “I’m going to go get some soda for dinner tonight and maybe some dessert. Who wants to come with me?” 

“Me!” Leia popped up and got off the couch. “I’ll come with you, Daddy!” 

“Me too! I want to come!” Luke scrambled off the couch and ran to grab his shoes. “Let’s go, Leia!” 

“I’m hurrying as fast as I can, Luke!” Leia was right behind him as she too ran for her shoes. 

“I’ll stay here for the pizza.” Padme stood up and stretched. 

Anakin reached out to touch her arm. “You can’t let her get to you. If you let her get to you, she has already won.” 

Padme didn’t resist his attempt to hug her. She went into his arms easily. 

“Don’t let her win. Be stronger and a bigger person than her.” Anakin wanted to kiss her but held back. She wasn’t ready yet. 

“I will Anakin. I’ll try my best.” Padme sighed into his shoulder. 

Anakin knew just what to say to make her laugh. “Do or do not. There is no try. Well, at least my old friend Yoda says. Well, more like an ex sponsor. Personally, I think he is a half-troll.” 

“Anakin.” Padme tried to sound scandalized but ended up trying to hide a laugh. 

“What? Can’t you just see it? He’s small enough to be one and grumpy enough. He could be a troll. Give me ten dollars to pass you will.” Anakin tried to get Yoda’s broken English accent right. 

Padme burst into giggles. “That… that was awful Ani.” 

“And green. Like all over. Skin included.” 

“Ani stop!” Padme was breathless with the laughter she was giving. 

Anakin smiled at the genuine grin she was sporting. “There you are. A wise woman once told me to never let my anger get the best of me. Anger hurts you and everyone around you. It also destroys relationships.” 

“I told you that.” Padme stared at him with amazement on her face. 

“Yes. I do listen to you.” Anakin paused and stared at the true beauty in front of him. Padme was smiling a real smile and was backlit by the setting sun out the windows. “My Angel.” He breathed in awe. The urge to kiss her welled up again, fiercer than before. “Padme can I-?” 

“Daddy! We’re ready!” Leia’s shouted words interrupted their moment. 

Two sets of little feet ran into the room from the hall. 

“Let’s go get some ‘sert and soda.” Luke came into the room with his shoes untied and on the wrong feet. 

“Come on Daddy. Let’s go and get back so we can have pizza.” Leia’s jacket was twisted behind her back. 

Luke and Leia came to a stop in front of Anakin and Padme and pulled on their clothes.

“Hold on. Let’s fix your jacket and shoes.” Anakin lifted Luke and set him on the couch. He took off his shoes and got them on the right foot. Then he fastened them closed. 

Padme helped Leia with her jacket and then Anakin switched over to Leia to do the same thing he had done to Luke. 

“Okay. Let’s go. We’ll be back soon. Any requests while we are out? Don’t eat all the pizza without us. ” Anakin gently teased her. 

“Very funny Anakin. Can you please pick up some strawberries? I have an idea for dessert.” Padme fiddled with Leia’s jacket collar. 

“Yes, Ma’am.” Anakin was tempted to kiss her temple goodbye but stopped himself. Now was not the time. Maybe later they could pick up where they left off. 

Anakin led the twins to his truck and buckled them in. “Okay. We have fifteen minutes at best before the pizza gets there. Let’s go and be back before then.” 

Anakin started up his vehicle and drove to the store down the road. He made a mental list in his head. Strawberries and soda. 

Anakin tried to go as fast as he could through the store. Having two four-year-olds ‘helping’ really didn’t go fast. 

Anakin learned to always have a shopping cart when going to the store with young children. That way you can put them in the basket and go at your own pace. 

It took the whole fifteen minutes to drive to the store, get the strawberries and soda, check out and get back to the car. It was twenty minutes total for the whole trip. 

Padme had the pizzas warming in the oven when they got back. Anakin poured the drinks while Padme served the food. They all sat down at the small kitchen table and ate their respective pizza slices. 

After dinner, Anakin searched for a funny family movie. He settled on the movie with the spy guinea pigs. 

Halfway through the movie, Padme whipped up some strawberry and chocolate milkshakes. Strawberry for her and Leia and chocolate for Luke and him. 

The kids were a little wired after the movie but a quick round of tickling and laughter wore them out. Anakin tucked in Leia and Luke. He moved aside for Padme to do the same. 

Anakin walked to the main area to pick up toys and things that got left out. Padme came out to wash dishes. 

“Padme?” Anakin leaned in the kitchen doorway. “Are we going to talk about what you said this afternoon?” 

“Anakin I-” 

“Because I just wanted to say that I love you too and that I honestly never stopped. I never even looked at another woman after Leia was born. No one could compare to you and-” 

Anakin’s words caught in his throat as Padme gently kissed him.

“I never truly stopped either. Mother forced me to go on a few dates but no one could ever measure up to you.” 

Anakin’s brain was frozen for half a minute. 

“I love you Anakin Skywalker and I will never stop loving you.” 

Anakin unfroze and kissed Padme with all the love he felt. 

*****

Leia woke up sad. She knew this was most likely the last day she had with Luke and Mama. Leia was determined to have them stay. She would do anything. She would even hide in their car so they had to come back to give her to Daddy. 

Leia dressed and headed out for breakfast. Luke was already awake. Leia found out the cereal was for breakfast. She had a bowl of her favorite cereal. Trixx. 

After breakfast, Daddy went to work again. He begged Mama again, like yesterday, but Mama made him go to work. Just until five. 

“Mama?” Leia was bored. “What are we doing today?” 

“Well, I was thinking we could go out and around town today. We can go to the park and check out your new school or we could go visit Grandma Shmi and Grandpa if you want or we can stay here and do nothing.” Mama was working on cleaning the kitchen. 

“Can we do both? Go to the park with Grandma Shmi and Grandpa?” Leia widened her eyes and clasped her hands in front of her chest. 

“Of course. Just let me call your grandma.” Mama set the last bowl in the washer and reached for her phone. Mama made a face as she looked at the screen before calling Grandma Shmi. 

Leia was so eager. She almost felt like she was going to bounce out of her shoes. Mama had finally got off the phone with Grandma Shmi. They were heading out soon. Leia couldn’t wait. 

“Luke! Go get ready to go! We are going to see Grandma Shmi and Grandpa!” Leia ran into the living room where Luke was watching the tv. Some cartoon was on about a cat and mouse. 

“Just a second, Leia. It’s almost over.” Luke didn’t look away from the show. 

Leia waited for Luke to be done. She huffed. “Well, I’m getting ready.” Leia turned and walked to her room. 

Why was Luke so obsessed with that show? All it was was a cat and mouse fighting. That was boring. If Leia wanted to watch a cat fight a mouse she would give Tooka her toy mouse and let her play. 

Speaking of Tooka…

Leia hunted around for Uncle Obi’s cat. “Here kitty, kitty. Tooka? Where are you?” 

Leia found Tooka hiding under Daddy’s bed. “Come on Tooka. Want some treats? I can rub your ears.” Leia wiggled her hand under the bed but Tooka just hissed and scratched her hand. 

Leia yanked it back and stared at it. Her eyes filled with tears. Tooka really hurt her. She didn’t know why Uncle Obi’s cat hated her. She was nice. 

Leia stood up and made her way to Mama. Maybe Mama would know why. 

“Mama!” Leia came to a stop in front of Mama. She was vacuuming Leia’s room. “Mama!” 

Mama stopped the loud vacuum and turned to face Leia. “What’s wrong, Little Princess?” 

“Tooka was being mean and she scratched me. Look!” Leia shoved her hurt hand at her Mama. “It really hurts.” 

“Let me see?” Mama took her hand and held it. She bent her head and kissed Leia’s hand. “There. It will be all fine soon. Are you almost ready to go?” 

Leia shook her head. “No. I need to do my hair and put on my shoes and get Larry. Grandma Shmi said she had something for him when she got back from her trip with Grandpa.” 

“I’m almost done here. Why don’t you go do those things? All except your hair. I’ll help you with that. But go get your shoes on and get Luke to go get ready too. Grandma Shmi said that Grandpa has a present for Luke too.” Mama stood back up and turned to the vacuum. 

Leia went to grab her shoes and left Mama to finish her room. “Luke! Mama says it’s time to go! Grandpa and Grandma Shmi are waiting. They have presents for us too!” 

“Okay!” Luke turned off the tv and jumped down from the couch. “Let’s go.” 

Leia put on her shoes and grabbed Larry in her backpack. Leia put on her easy shoes with the things that stick together. Mama didn’t need to help her with those. 

Leia helped Luke put his shoes on the right feet. (Leia knew how to do that since she was almost four but she didn’t want to hurt Luke by saying that.)

Leia made sure that Larry was safe before putting on her backpack with Luke’s help. It was nice to have a twin brother. He helped her and she helped him. 

“Mama! My hair!” Leia yelled down the hall. 

“Coming!” Mama exited the bathroom with a brush and hair ties. “How do you want your hair today, Leia?” 

Leia eyed Mama’s hair. It was done in a twist on her head. “Like yours?” 

“Okay. I’ll need to get some clips. Hold on.” Mama went back to the bathroom. She came out with one of her clips in her hand. 

Leia beamed. She got to wear some of her Mama’s things. Mama did Leia’s hair quickly. 

“Okay. We are meeting Grandma Shmi and Grandpa at their house so we better hurry. Let’s go to the car, kids.” Mama locked the front door and led the way to her small car. 

Leia bounded after her. She wanted to let every moment of this day count towards letting Luke and Mama stay here. She would not give up. Never. 


End file.
